


Higher Education

by VyraFinn



Series: The Icelandic Studies [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-05-14 13:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 99,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VyraFinn/pseuds/VyraFinn
Summary: After a brief argument with his boss Iceland finds himself to be enrolled in to a master program in University of Copenhagen.  Not only he is a nation but now he should somehow survive the student life and keep it all secret from his family. Good thing Denmark never notices anything, right?





	1. Higher Command

“You want me to do what?” Iceland asked and he was so sure that he had misheard or it was just a joke, but still the person speaking to him looked dead serious. He was even glaring at the nation to make the situation even more serious than it was supposed to be. Iceland sighed and hoped that he would have stayed at home today like his puffin had said he should.

“We want you to go to university”, the human repeated to the shocked nation. Iceland stared at him, his boss, who was already used for his nation’s habits and simply stared back. They could have continued this staring contest forever, but there was lot of other things to do so it was better to get over it.  

“But I don’t need to”, Iceland said and crossed his arms, “I’m already fully educated and I know lot of things.”

“We have indeed checked your educational background”, the human said sternly to show the nation that the decision was final and it didn’t matter what the Icelander said, “and though you went through the normal schooling at the beginning of the 20th century, you never applied to a university.”

“But I’m a nation”, Iceland tried to argue, “we are not really following the human trends.”

“Concept of universities is centuries old”, the boss noted, “this is hardly a ‘human trend’ as you put it.”

“I don’t need to…”

“You have to”, the human continued, “you are an important part of this country and every one working with such great tasks should have a high enough education.”

“But…”

“The teaching given you by your brother is not enough”, he told the nation, “the world had changed and whatever he taught you hundred years ago, it’s not valid anymore. You need more education.”

“Dan was helping too”, Iceland muttered and crossed his arms, but he didn’t fight because he knew it would be useless. His boss had already decided.

“You are going to apply now and start at next autumn”, the human said, “I have spoken with the people in your destination country and the university so everything is taken care for. They have agreed to let you choose which ever study you want to complete and you will be selected automatically without valuation.”

“Wait a moment”, Iceland said and raised his hand, “the destination country? Can’t I do this at home? Like, isn’t everything possible to do online nowadays? I heard some people learn brain surgery from youtube videos.” He felt a slightly betrayed because it sounded like his boss had been organizing this all behind his back and even made some other people to agree with the plan before asking the nation itself. Or well, he wasn’t really asking. He was demanding.

“No”, the human replied and sighed, “we have been talking about this a lot and after a long debate we agreed that it’s best to get you out from the country. It would have been suitable to enrol you to University of Iceland but it was noted that your work would affect your studies too much and so you should leave the country in order to focus on the university. Also, people say that living abroad is good for everybody, and naturally we hope the best for you.” Iceland wondered who all had been involved in this treachery and if it would be too childish to get a revenge.

“I have lived abroad almost all my life”, Iceland complained, “to which country I have to go now?” It had probably been his whole government and half of the population involved. They were all against of him, Iceland thought, it was so hard to find some loyal citizens nowadays.

“You know him well”, his boss said and for sure Iceland didn’t like that. That kind of things always meant problems or at least very irritating headache for him.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Denmark”, his boss continued without caring about his nation’s feelings, “you will pick up a study program from University of Copenhagen and move to Denmark next autumn. You should inform us about your choice before next Friday.”

“What if…?”

“If you don’t pick up something, we will”, the boss said and that was the moment when Iceland gave up. Apparently his country was only fair and democratic when it came to people. Nobody cared about what the nation himself wanted. So, he was going to study and move to Denmark’s land. He wasn’t really excited.

“Damn it”, Iceland muttered and he knew that he could never let his family know about this. He didn’t know exactly how but somehow he was going to survive the whole program, keep it secret and also do his job. Iceland sighed and thanked his luck about the fact that Denmark never noticed anything. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep a small secret from him.


	2. Higher annoyance

Iceland didn’t own an alarm clock and he had good reasons for that. Firstly, those devices from the hell were annoying him more than anything. Secondly, he didn’t want to wake up inhumanly early for some loud ringing. Thirdly, he had a puffin.

“Rise and shine, sunshine!” the puffin yelled and flew into the Icelander’s bedroom, “it’s your first day! Hurray!”

“Shut the hell up!” Iceland yelled back and pushed his head under the pillow, “and it’s not my first day.” The bird sat on the desk and let a weird sounding noise that was his version on laughing. Because puffins were not supposed to be able to laugh, it sounded strange every time he did it anyway. But then again, birds weren’t supposed to speak either and sometime Iceland really hoped somebody would have told Puffin that little fact.

“Woah, you already got the teenager speak”, the puffin noted, “babies grow up so fast.”

“I’m not in the mood now.”

“That’s what she said!”

“Puffin”, Iceland said with a serious voice and turned to look at the bird that looked way too happy, “we Icelanders eat puffins. If you don’t shut up now, I’ll take care you are in the menu tomorrow.”

“It’s barely seven o’clock and you are already giving death threats”, Puffin said and didn’t seems to be worried, “be crampy old nation then while I go to poop on everything you love.” He took off and flew out just when Iceland realized that the bird might actually do what he said he will. The nation almost fell on the floor in hurry to safe his belongings.

“Stop, Puffin!” he yelled, and the bird laughed again. He flew around the living room few times before settling down on the lamp.

“Look at that” he said, “I got you up! One point for Puffin, zero to Ísland! Hah!” The bird tapped his beak on the lamp to make clicking sound and Iceland grimaced.

“Yeah, I’m up”, he said, “so what?”

“So you eat your breakfast”, Puffin replied, “and then you go to airport because your flight to Denmark is leaving in three hours!”

“Three hours?” Iceland yelled, frantically searching for something that would confirm the time, “why you didn’t wake me up earlier?”

“Because I didn’t want to listen your annoying complains!” the bird yelled back and made the lamp swing left and right, “hurry up, Icey!”

“I swear someday I will eat you”, the nation mumbled and marched to the kitchen. When he one hour later stood in the hall, dressed up and ready to go, the bird was still swinging with the lamp. The nation was already in bad mood and the puffin wasn’t really helping.

“Puffin!” he yelled, “get down from there.”

“What? Is somebody a little troll today?” he bird asked but flew on top of the nation’s suitcase, “you know, nobody gonna love you if you push your bad mood on them.”

“I don’t care”, the Icelander said darkly and sighed, “listen. I’ll have to go now. You are the responsible of the house while I’m away so if anything happens, come to me.”

“So anything, huh?” he bird asked, “like if the sun rises tomorrow I’ll rush to you and be like ‘omg, Icey, the world didn’t end last night!’”

“Stop that”, Iceland said.

“You stop that”, the bird replied.

“I was serious about what I said about the menu”, Iceland muttered and wondered why he never got anything easy, “just keep things on eye, would you?”

“Of course, sir!” the bird yelled and raised his wing for something that looked like a salute. Iceland sighed again and grabbed his suitcase. He only had one because apparently his boss was still thinking he might try to escape and so they had sent most of the Icelander’s stuff to Denmark few days earlier. Iceland still wondered why they haven’t seized his passport and sent the border guards to take him to the airport just to make sure that he actually left the country. Maybe they thought he was too adult to go and hide somewhere in the wilds, he thought and walked to the taxi that was already waiting for him. The puffin sat on the window sill and raised his wing for a wave. Iceland waived back and wondered if this was really a good idea.

“ _Velkommen til København…”_ The cheerful voice of the steward woke the nation up from the slumber. He yawned and wondered a few seconds where he was until it hit him again. He was at the Copenhagen’s airport and, though he had done this same flight many times before, he had never felt as upset as he was feeling now. He would have preferred to go home but apparently his home was now here so it was better to collect his suitcase and move on. At least his boss had agreed on keeping everything secret from other nations and therefore, instead of meeting up with the over-happy Dane and going to his big mansion just outside the capital area, there was nobody waiting for him this time and he would just have to take a metro to the city and move in to the small student apartment his boss had got him.

When Iceland stepped in the waiting area, he felt a bang of sadness when he saw all the people waiting for their friends and family members. This was the first time for decades that nobody was picking him up. Normally Denmark would have been there with his small Dannebrog and waiving and yelling so much that Iceland wanted to just turn around and go back home to save himself from embarrassment. But now the Dane wasn’t there so Iceland pulled himself together and marched out to the metro platform. He was so familiar with the Copenhagen’s public transportation that he didn’t even think where he was going until he stood in front of a big building. His boss had warned him that they couldn’t give him a fancy place. He was to live with other students, but at least they had arranged an own room for him so he could be more freely and not forced to keep his true self hided all the time. Still he wasn’t very happy when he got to the room and noticed that it smelled like somebody had left a dead rat in the corner and he could hear all the noise from the other rooms around him. He noticed that his stuff had already arrived and all the boxes were now filling up the small space.

“So, yeah”, he mumbled and looked around to see all the ugly yellow walls, dirty window and the small sink that probably didn’t even work, “not fancy, definitely not hygge, but I guess I’ll survive.” He didn’t have own toilet or kitchen, he would have to share the common ones with other students, but at least nobody knew where he was and what he was doing. It would be only two years anyway. He had survived worse.

“Hey!” a new voice said and Iceland turned to see a smiling young woman at the door, “you are the new Icelander, right?”

“Yeah”, Iceland mumbled, “I guess so.” The woman was carrying a pile of papers and now she was trying to find the right one. Finally she took one paper from middle.

“You missed the welcome week so I was told to show you all the things”, she said, “so… Your name is Eiríkur Andersen?” It took Iceland a moment to remember that it was the name he was using this time. Usually he had fully Icelandic name but because this time he had to connect everything with his Danish citizenship, he had ended up with the Danish surname. Not only that, Andersen was also one of Denmark’s favourite names though Iceland wasn’t sure if he was using it currently.

“That’s me”, he said and the woman nodded happily as she draw a mark on the paper.

“I think we will call you Erik, is that okay?” she was pronouncing it like a Dane, but Iceland shrugged. Nobody would get it right anyway.

“That’s fine”, he mumbled. Eiríkur wasn’t his real name anyway, so no harm done.

“And you even have a Danish surname, I see”, the woman continued and Iceland wondered if she really had to go into so personal things right away, “you got a family from here?”

“Yeah”, Iceland said, “something like that.” The woman nodded.

“Okay, here are all the documents for you”, she said and pushed the paper pile on his hands, “I guess you have already signed up in your study account?”

“Yeah”, Iceland said. He had done that because one of his assistants had made him sit down and do exactly like the official e-mail from the University said. For some reason everybody was so excited about his studies. Traitors, all of them.

“So you can find everything from the internet”, the woman said quickly and gave him a smile, “and if you don’t know something, just ask a Dane.”

“Any Dane?”

“Well, I guess one from the University might know best”, the woman said with a shrug, “but so far that I know you might be just as lucky with a random passer-by. So, I have to go now. Have fun!” She waived and was gone before Iceland had a chance to say anything. The nation sighed and glanced briefly at the papers before dropping them on the bed.

“I still feel like this was a bad idea”, he mumbled and started to organize the room in order to keep himself distracted from the fact that he was really going to study.

****

“Yep, still feels like a bad idea”, Iceland mumbled and did his best to not fall asleep while the teacher was speaking. He thought his voice was too low to be heard but apparently he was wrong because the guy sitting next to him smirked.

“Same here”, he said, “hey, you weren’t at the welcome week, right?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied and gave a quick glance at the guy who somehow reminded him about France because of the blond, slightly curly hair and smile that probably made some girls and boys drop in daily basic, “I was a bit busy.”

“That’s cool”, the guy said, “they didn’t really say anything you can’t find from internet. I’m Tomas, by the way.”

“Eiríkur”, Iceland replied and waived a bit.

“Erik what?”

“Yeah, that”, Iceland mumbled and wondered why he didn’t pick up more international name. Well, it was too late and would raise too much questions if he went to change his name now. Also, his Icelandic pride was very happy about the beautiful names his people were using.

“Okay”, Tomas replied and leaned to poke the girl sitting on front of him, “Julia, say hi to the new guy.” The girl turned so quickly that it was a wonder that she didn’t fell off from the chair. She had a curious look on her face and somehow Iceland knew that he should be very careful around her. She probably already had blackmailing material from half of the people in the class.

“Hi, I’m Julia”, she said.

“Eiríkur”, Iceland said.

“But we can call him Erik”, Tomas added.

“Yeah”, Iceland mumbled and yet another student turned to speak to him.

“I’m Carl”, he said with a quiet voice, “nice to meet you.”

“You too”, Iceland said with a small nod. He knew he looked utterly bored but it didn’t seem to bother these people because they still made an attempt to speak with him.

“So, we are only non-Danes in this class”, Tomas told him, “all the others are from Denmark.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I checked the name list”, he said, “wanna guess where we are from?”

“No”, Iceland said honestly because he was still too pissed off to play any games. They should try again after few years. Tomas looked like he was going to tell anyway, but Julia warned them to be quiet because the teacher was giving a look at their direction. Iceland leaned his chin on his arm and hoped that two years would go fast.

The class felt like it went on for an eternity but finally Iceland was out from the room. The air had become suffocating during the last half of the class and the nation was very happy to be out from that room. He didn’t really like crowds and sixty people in one room for hours were more than enough for him. He sighed, moved his bag a bit so it wouldn’t hurt his shoulder, and just walked. He had been in the University before but this building was a new one and he had seen only the oldest as Denmark had been so proud of it back in the 17th century and he had took Iceland and Norway for a tour few times. But instead of the old building, the class had been held in new place in another side of the city. Iceland had never been there before and, though he got some dry humour from the fact that the metro station nearby had been named after him, he was upset and lost. Of course it would have been so easy to call Denmark and ask for the directions. The Dane of course knew every stone in his land and had probably somehow took a part in constructing the campus. But if he called Denmark, there would be questions. Questions Iceland didn’t want to answer.

“Hey, Ísland!” Iceland startled when he heard his real name and after few panicking thoughts he realized that it wasn’t the Dane. Denmark didn’t have a female voice. He turned to see a young woman with a serious look and a black bag tugged under her arm.

“I have no idea what…”, Iceland started but the woman shook her head.

“I know who you are”, she said and gave him a small smile that was weirdly professional looking. Iceland frowned and realized after while that the woman was nervous but did a good job with hiding it behind her serious and utterly professional look.

“And you are?” Iceland asked.

“Kristfríður”, the woman replied, “Kristfríður Agnarsdóttir.”

“Icelander?” Iceland asked and couldn’t stop feeling much better now even if he still thought all his people were traitors against him.

“Bred and raised”, she said and switched to their native language, “my mother works for the government, and my grandparents and granduncle did too, so that’s why I know the secret.” One from those families then, Iceland thought and nodded. Even if the power wasn’t inherited in his country anymore, some families had notable amount of members working within the government and so they knew about the personifications. Mostly it made things easier because Iceland didn’t always need to go through the time when he tried to make his new bosses to believe in him. It was much easier when they already knew, but sometimes it worried him a bit too.

“Nice”, Iceland said and nodded.

“Because you are here now I was told to give you this”, Kristfríður said and gave him a piece of paper. Iceland looked at it but all he could see was a phone number. There weren’t even any names or explanation about whose it was.

“And what I should do with this?” he asked and held the paper between his fingers.

“It’s the phone number of Íslenska leyniþjónustan aka. Icelandic Secret Service, of course”, the woman replied, “if you ever need anything, you just call and everything will be taken care.” Iceland stared at the paper and wasn’t sure what he should think about it. He had had no clue about any secret services and he wasn’t sure if he should be worried about that. After all he was the country, wasn’t he supposed to know about stuff like that?

“You mean that…”, he started and looked up only to see that Kristfríður wasn’t there anymore. Iceland was all alone and apparently the woman had literally run away right when he got distracted. The nation had no idea why she would have done that but if she was after mysterious expression, she definitely got that. Also, it made her look a bit crazy and weird.

“I have a secret service”, Iceland mumbled to himself, “damn, I should have asked her how I can get out of this stupid building.” He pushed the paper in his pocket and somehow he knew that next two years would be even harder than he thought.


	3. Higher secrecy

The first two weeks of studying went surprising well. Iceland’s boss had decided to give the nation some time to get used for his new routines so there was no country business for him. Sadly that also meant that they had cut his salary but he still reserved enough to go on, though he was also starting to understand why students always looked so poor. It was because they were exactly that. He also understood that he couldn’t expect to get so much salary when he didn’t work like he normally would. But even when his work load was less, the school work nicely filled up all his free time. 

“Does anybody have any idea which case we can use for this?” Julia asked with a slightly frustrated voice and stared at her computer’s screen. They were sitting in lobby and apparently nobody was sure what they were supposed to do, but they knew they should be doing something. Tomas was lying on his back and kicking the wall, Carl looked like he was half asleep and Iceland just sat there and wondered why group works were so confusing. 

“How about that one from last year?” Tomas asked, “the one with murder and lost money.”

“The teacher said the case has to be at least five years old”, Julia reminded him.

“So if we just go through some newspaper databases and see what will come up?” Carl proposed and yawned.

“That might work”, Julia replied and started to type, “hey, Erik?”

“What?” Iceland asked after a bit too long silence. He was still getting used for his human name and it didn’t really help that he rarely spoke with people. He had heard that the other students in his apartment building called him “that weird Icelander” and somehow Iceland was okay with that.

“You haven’t said anything for while”, the woman noted, “actually, you haven’t said anything at all after shortly agreeing with doing this group work with us. Are you okay?” Tomas glanced at the Icelander who only shrugged.

“Yeah”, he said, “just lot of new things to think about. You know.”

“True, same here”, Carl mumbled, “it’ll take few weeks longer before I really get in the rhythm.” 

“Hard times”, Tomas agreed, “hey, Juli, maybe we should take things a bit easy now and just hang out a moment?” Julia hesitated but after glancing at the boys who all looked exhausted, she sighed and closed her laptop.

“I guess that would be nice”, she said, “so, anybody doing anything exciting?”

“Not right now”, Tomas said and smiled, “but I’m going to start the Danish course soon. I should just sign up.”

“Cool, I’ll start too”, Carl said and gave him a thumb up.

“We should go to the same class”, Julia said, “I was planning about taking the course. I thought I would wait a bit longer, but if you guys are going I think I’ll take the same class.”

“That would be so cool!” Tomas cheered, “Erik, are you up to this too?” Iceland glanced at him and did his best to look friendly. He felt slightly bad about trying to push them away but the truth was that as a nation, he should not hang out with humans too much. Things happened when nations got too friendly with mortals. 

“I don’t need to take that”, he said, “sorry.”

“What?” Tomas said and gave him a surprised look, “but it’s free and all. Only five hours per week.”

“And I think it would be just right to try to learn the language while we are here”, Julia added.

“I didn’t mean it like that”, Iceland said quickly before they could nag to him too much, “it’s just that I already speak Danish.” He was fluent in Danish, all thanks to Denmark and the years he had spent living under the same roof with that man.  

“Really?” Tomas asked and Iceland nodded, “that’s cool! Where did you learn it?” 

“We all learn it at school back home”, Iceland mumbled, “and my brother is a Dane so he kind of taught me everything. It’s hard for him to shut up.”

“I didn’t know you have a brother”, Julia said and Iceland nodded because they had no idea how much they didn’t know about him, “but how he is a Dane when you’re an Icelander?”

“He is adopted”, Iceland said quickly, “we are nothing alike.”  

“Okay”, the humans murmured and were clearly confused about the nation’s quick statement. Iceland could have explained himself more but he felt his phone vibrating and he panicked a little. Only four persons had the number for that phone because it was the one for his personal use only. He had another phone for work. He almost dropped the phone while trying to get it from his pocket, and he felt relieved when he saw Finland’s name on the screen. The Finn was so naïve that it wouldn’t be hard to lie to him. Norway however was the problem and Iceland really hoped his brother would never call him. Somehow the Norwegian managed to see the truth behind of everything and even the most skilful lies couldn’t fool him. 

“Sorry, I have to get this”, Iceland mumbled and accepted the call, “hey, Tino.”

“Hei, Is!” the cheerful voice replied, “oh, sinä et ilmeisesti ole kotona, kun kerta käytät tuota nimeä?”

”Joo, olen kaupungilla”, Iceland replied and automatically switched to Finnish. It wasn’t the most usual language for him but he could speak it fine enough. 

“Okei, ajattelin vain soittaa ja muistuttaa, että Pohjoismaiden neuvoston kokous on ensiviikolla”, Finland said and Iceland grimaced. He knew about the meeting but apparently nobody had told the other Nordics that he wasn’t going to attend. 

“Sori, Tino”, he said, “minä en ehdi sinne tällä kertaa.”

”Oh”, the Finn muttered and sounded slightly disappointed, ”no, nähdään sitten joku toinen kertaa. Pitää mennä, moi moi!”

“Moi”, Iceland said and closed the call when he heard the beeping. He placed the phone on the table and found three curious humans staring at him.

“Was that Icelandic?” Tomas asked, “it sounded funny.”

“No, it was Finnish”, Iceland replied without realizing that speaking Finnish might be a weird thing. It was just so normal for nations to be multi-lingual and Iceland had never met any that didn’t speak at least four different languages.

“What?” Tomas almost yelled, “you speak that too? How many languages you can speak?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied and thought the question for a moment, “seven, I think. But I’m not really good with Swedish. Sví… My brother always says it sounds too much like Norwegian. Also, I have forgotten most of my French.” He got more confused looks.

“Dude”, Carl said, “why you didn’t just take the linguist program? You could be a pro with that.”

“I didn’t really think about it”, Iceland shrugged. The real reason was that he had chosen the program whit a lottery. His boss had frowned at that but let the nation to do what he wanted with that. 

“Who you were speaking with?” Julia askes and Iceland realized too late that it was a dangerous question.

“It was just my brother”, he said.

“The Danish one?”

“No, the Finnish”, he told them.

“You have a Finnish brother too?” Tomas asked with an excited voice, “damn, that is cool.”

“Um, yeah”, Iceland mumbled, “it is just because he married my brother. You know, we are only brothers by marriage.”

“So he married your Danish brother?”

“No, my Swedish one”, Iceland said and frowned, “which kind of interrogation this it?”

“Just curious”, Julia said and smiled sweetly, “how many brothers you actually have?” Iceland thought about it for a moment and tried to quickly decide which kind of family he would make up for himself this time.

“I have three plus the one who married into the family”, he finally said, “they are all adopted though, one is Norwegian, one Swedish and one a Dane.” Tomas let a low whistle.

“That’s so cool”, he said, “you can even call yourself a Nordic family!”

“Yeah”, Iceland muttered and stared at the wall, “that’s exactly what we do.”

***** 

Few hours later Iceland found himself walking around the city without any reason. He was just too restless to stay still and he had also found out that the girls living upstairs liked to play music too loud and the life at the student commune was way too much for him. He had got used for the peace and having his own space and even the weirdly rude puffin and over-active Dane couldn’t prepare him for the horrors of student life. He sighed and let his legs to take him where ever they wanted to go. It was risky for him because this was Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and the nation itself could be anywhere. 

“Well, he is probably bothering Nore anyway”, Iceland mumbled. The good thing was that Denmark loved to spend time with the Norwegian nation so it was almost more common to find him in Norway’s house than in his own. Norway might find that annoying sometime but Iceland was happy because it made keeping the secret much easier. 

But he should have guessed that his luck run thin, because when he turned around the corner, just avoiding the group of tourist almost blocking the way, he saw the nation itself. Fortunately, the Dane was standing the back on him and talking loudly with a flower seller so Iceland had just time to realize it was him and hide behind a trash bin.

“What the hell he is doing here”, he mumbled almost angrily and then sighed, “oh, right. This is his land.” The Icelander bit his lip and wondered how he could escape without being noticed. If the Dane even got a glance of him, there would be questions. For sure Denmark would be okay with him being there, though it was seen rude to enter in other’s land without telling them first, but Iceland didn’t really have any good excuses. He glanced around and checked that the Dane was still busy with the conversation before he carefully stepped away from the trash bin and almost run to another street. He didn’t even dare to breathe before he was in good distance. 

“Okay, he didn’t see me”, he sighed. The good thing was that for sure the Dane would yell and run after him if he spotted the Icelander. Now there was no yelling or running to Iceland decided he had survived the close call. However, this made him think about the risks. He couldn’t avoid the public places all the time and Denmark was well known for being all around the place all the time. That meant that there was very high risk of Iceland stumbling on him by simply accident. He grimaced for the thought.

He sat down on the bench and wondered how he could solve the problem. One solution would be call the Dane and somehow get his daily plans so Iceland could simply avoid the places where the Dane would be. That plan was still tricky because sooner or later the Dane would ask why Iceland was so curious about his plans, and also calling Denmark all the time would increase the risk. Iceland played with a coin in his pocket while thinking and then his fingers found a piece of paper. Slowly he took it out and looked at the numbers that had turned a bit smudgy after being in his pocket so long, but were still visible. 

“Well, why not”, he mumbled and opened his phone. It took only few seconds before the call was picked.

“Íslenska leyniþjónustan”, an unfamiliar voice answered, “how can we assist you?”

“You really start the call with telling that?” Iceland asked and there was a brief silence before the voice replied.

“So we do”, it said, “please, identify yourself.” Iceland hesitated for a moment but ended up with the conclusion that they already knew about him and if they didn’t, they would just think he was kidding.

“I’m Ísland”, he said.

“Wait for a moment. We’ll need to confirm that”, the voice replied and came back only after few minutes, “the agent Puffin had confirmed, how I can assist my nation?”

“Agent Puffin?” Iceland asked and frowned. He had a bad feeling about this agent Puffin. 

“Yes, he is our special agent working near you”, the voice replied.

“Okay, this might sound like a weird question”, Iceland said, “but have you ever meet this agent Puffin?”

“No, I haven’t”, the voice said, “agent Puffin has the highest security priority and therefore he will not be shown in the office. Was that all you wished to know?”

“Oh no, I was just wondering”, Iceland said, “I kind of wasn’t aware that I have a secret service until few weeks ago.”

“I can assure you that the Icelandic Secret Service is the best in the world.”

“Really?”

“Per capita, of course.” Iceland smirked. They were always best with everything. Per capita. Thought apparently they didn’t know that their best agent was probably a strange speaking bird. Iceland made a mental note to call to his house and ask the puffin about that later. 

“Okay”, he said, “I need help with something. You know Danmörk, right? I mean the personification, not the land itself.”

“Of course”, the voice said patiently, “we have files of every person near you, including your family.” 

“That’s great”, Iceland muttered, “can somebody keep him on eye? I have to avoid him but it’s bit hard here.” Iceland heard the person typing on computer and after a brief moment he got an affirmative reply.

“We can send an agent to follow him”, the voice explained, “but spying on personifications demands a higher approval and more often missions like that are reported to be failures. We can’t promise accurate results and might be forced to abandon the mission in case the personification or his government finds out about it.”

“That’s okay”, Iceland said, “if he finds out, I’ll take the responsibility.”

“Sure”, the voice said, “I’ll forward your request and send the information about the decision later on. Have a good day.”

“You too”, Iceland replied and closed the phone. Few hours later he got an e-mail stating that his request was fulfilled and from now forward he would be informed if the Danish nation was going to be near the places he usually spent time. Iceland felt more relieved but it worried him a bit that the document was also signed by the Danish officers. That sounded suspicious, but he decided to not think it too much. He had lot of other things to worry about. 


	4. Higher responsibility

Three months later Iceland found himself sitting in his small room and banging his head against the table. The girls upstairs were having a party and apparently most of people had joined in which meant there was no way the Icelander could sleep. So he stayed up and cursed his poor luck.

“I hate this”, he mumbled, “and I hate exams and group works.” The most feared time of student’s life was coming soon, the exam week. Iceland had always thought that would be easy thing for him but still he found himself tired and desperate. Lately he had also been given some nation related work and he didn’t have much free time. His mornings were spent in the classes, afternoons were for reading, evenings for work and, if he was lucky, he had some time to sleep at nights. He had never believed he could be this exhausted but his mind and body were reaching their limits now and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep going like that. 

Iceland sighed and stared at the wall. Most of the time he was in Denmark, but every third week he travelled to his own land to attend in the meetings. Those visits were very quick and he barely had any time to stop at his own home. Usually he had to stay in the hotel over the night, which annoyed him a lot. At least all the international meetings had been taken off from his timetable so he didn’t need to travel around the world. Most of the nations didn’t even notice the lack of his attendance and the World Meetings were held only once every few years so it was easy to skip that. Basically the only people getting worried about him were his family. They were clearly confused about Iceland’s new habits and almost daily he got calls and messages from them. They didn’t ask it directly but Iceland could hear the hided questions and concern. He hadn’t met any of them since he started the studies and, though he had count on the fact that he normally preferred to be alone and they knew it, his family was getting worried. 

Iceland sighed again and decided to lie down. Maybe he could sleep a bit and everything would be a little clearer at morning. With all the thoughts going around his head he snuggled under the blanket and fell asleep after few long minutes. He was too tired to even care about the music and laugh blasting from another room. 

Next morning he waked up for his phone. Groaning he reached for the device that was ringing on the table. The tune died off just when he got the phone in his hands and he rubbed his eyes to see a bit better who had tried to call him. He was surprised that it hadn’t been only one call. He phone informed him about three unanswered calls and four messages. 

“Oh shit”, he said after seeing that Norway had tried to call him twice and Denmark once and. Also, everybody in his family had sent him a message. He tapped them open and felt the panic.

_ Hey, Icey! When your flight is landing? _

_ Island, which time will you arrive to Copenhagen? _

_ Is, should we pick you up from the airport? _

_ Island, be nice and answer for the calls. Norge is getting mad and worried. We are afraid he might tear the house down and Dan doesn’t have money to fix it. Finland is trying to keep the peace. Call us back soon, please. _

“Shit, shit, shit”, Iceland yelled when he realized that he was going to miss the only meeting he would have to attend no matter what. It was the most important for them and that’s why they held it at least three times per year. It was their family meeting, that usually lasted at least one week or sometimes even longer if they “forgot” to go back home. Actually they usually did “forget”, which was the reason why they all had  big enough houses for the whole family though they lived alone most of the time. This time it was Denmark’s turn to host that family meeting. 

Iceland jumped from the bed and started to run around. He tried to dress up and pack his bag at the same time while coming up with a good reason and excuse for his mistake. He had to find something to blame so they wouldn’t figure out what he was actually doing. When he was struggling with his shirt, he heard his phone ringing once again.

“Hey”, he said after picking it up.

“ _ Finally _ ”, a familiar and slightly distressed voice said in Norwegian, “ _ where are you?” _

“Just coming”, Iceland said and ended up with the most obvious excuse, “sorry, I had a big project going on. I forgot to tell you about my flight.”

“ _ That’s okay _ ”, Norway replied, thought Iceland could still hear worry in his voice, “ _ when will you land?” _

“Um, I’m just going in”, he said and glanced at the clock, “so, around 12:35.”

“ _ Good _ ”, Norway said, “ _ everybody else has arrived already so we will all come to pick you up.” _

“Okay”, Iceland mumbled and tried to tie his shoes with only one hand. It wasn’t very easy task to do. 

“ _ I’m looking forward to see you again, little brother _ ”, the Norwegian said with a warmer tone and Iceland felt bad for being forced to lie to him. He had to swallow before he could answer.

“Same”, he mumbled and hoped the man couldn’t hear the guilt in his voice, “okay, I have to go. See you soon.”

“ _ Have a safe flight _ ”, Norway wished and closed the phone. Iceland mumbled curses in half voice and hurried with the packing. Of course there were no flights for him because he was already in Denmark’s land. He only needed to sneak into the airport, stay away from others until his “flight” was supposed to land and then pretend that he had been simply so stressed and busy with his work that he hadn’t had time to keep in contact. At least that part would be easy. He was busy and stressed so no need for acting.

The Icelander took a quick glance at the mirror and decided that he looked good enough to go out. His hair was mess and he had packed his suitcase so fast that he wasn’t even sure what there was inside, but he trusted that it was okay.  He could always blame the work. Actually it was a fantastic idea to blame the work so much than possible. Norway hadn’t abandoned his habit to be over-protective over the Icelander so if he hinted a bit that there was too much work for him, the Norwegian would for sure to go harass his bosses. They deserved that. 

Iceland hurried down to the train station and hoped that his family was in Denmark’s home and not somewhere in the city. He hadn’t got any updates from the secret service for a while, the last one stating that the Danish nation was spending most of his days at his office and it was safe for Icelander to be out, but he should still be careful. Luckily he managed to make his way to Kastrup without meeting anybody else than lot of humans going to work or wherever they needed to be. When he arrived to the airport, he made sure to stay on side and act like he was a normal person just hanging out at airport. A glance at the clock told him that he still had one hour before his “flight” was supposed to land so he went to a coffee shop to get a drink and settled down to wait behind the corner. It took ten minutes for him to realize a fatal fail in his plan.

There were no flights from Iceland at the time he had told the Norwegian and not even any arriving around noon so he couldn’t say that he just misread the flight information. Nobody misread it so badly that they got the arriving time few hours off. He bit his lip and quickly picked the number he had been used for seeing a lot lately.

“Íslenska leyniþjónustan”, the professional sounding person picked up the call, “how can I assist you today?”

“Hey, it’s me”, Iceland said and trusted that they had his number saved now, “is it possible for you to add a flight on the info-board? Just the information of arriving flight from Iceland would be enough. You don’t need to really bring a plane over here.”

“Of course”, the human replied and Iceland heard him typing, “I guess you mean the airport at Copenhagen? Which time the flight should land and do you have any special requests?”

“At 12:35”, Iceland replied, “and no, I can handle everything else. I just need it to look like there is a flight landing at that time.”

“Sure”, human said, “it’s done now. Anything else I can help with?”

“No, that was all”, Iceland mumbled, “thanks.”

“I’m happy to help”, the voice replied and Iceland quickly said goodbye before closing the phone. It took only five minutes for a mysterious flight from Iceland appearing on the list of arriving flights, and Iceland was impressed. His secret service was surprising good so why nobody had told him about it earlier?

He didn’t have time to wonder about that for long because it was time to act. He kept looking over the crowd and trying to spot his family before they saw him. He got the warning message from the secret service only few minutes before he saw the Dane stepping into the terminal. Denmark was laughing and he looked relaxed and happy as he walked in. Other Nordics followed right behind him and Iceland could see Finland babbling about something, Sweden being his serious self and Norway observing the people around the terminal but not really paying much attention for any of them. They were all dressed up with their leisure time clothes and they looked just like anybody else, a group of young men waiting for somebody. Nobody would have guessed that they were all centuries old and knew more secrets than anybody else there. 

Iceland waited in his hiding place and carefully kept his family on eye. He saw Norway stopping to check the information of arriving flights and then pointing something to the Dane before heading to the same coffee shop where Iceland had got his morning caffeine just about an hour earlier. For a moment he thought that the Norwegian would ask the staff if they had seen any Icelanders around. After all, with Iceland’s look it was very easy to remember him and also difficult to mix him up with anybody else. But Iceland quickly reminded himself that Norway had no reason to doubt him and ask if anybody had seen him before he was supposed to arrive. Still he found himself feeling relieved when he saw the Norwegian returning with five cups of coffee and no signs about finding out of the Icelander’s secret.

It took another twenty minutes before the fake flight on the board change the status from landing to bags ready to collect. Iceland counted in his mind how long it would take to get out of the plane and when the estimated time had passed, he prepared to make his great entrance. He saw Denmark and Norway both being slightly nervous and glancing at the door where arrived passengers were supposed to come out. Sweden and Finland seemed to take everything a bit calmer because they were standing on side and the Finn was talking while holding the flag Denmark had given for him. They all had a small flag with them, except the Dane who had two. It was just something Denmark liked to do and he wasn’t only Dane there with flags ready to cheer for arriving friends or relatives. 

Iceland waited for a larger group to come out and when he saw a suitable one, a group of Asian tourist with amazingly large suitcases, he slipped behind them and tried to look like he had come out from the door. It took only five minutes before he was spotted.

“Island!” Denmark yelled and jumped up and down while waving his flag in case it was still possible to miss him otherwise, “Island!” Iceland sighed slightly. Denmark never remembered, or cared about, the rule of not using the nation names in public. Luckily usually nobody cared about how some random people were called or they assumed it was just a nickname. 

“Brother”, Norway said warmly and with much calmer voice, when Iceland reached them, “good to see you again.” 

“Yeah, same. I… ugh…” the Dane snatched him in tight hug and for a moment Iceland was sure he had broken at least two ribs. 

“I have missed you so much!” Denmark declared and pressed his face on the Icelander’s hair, “it feels like you are always so far away.” Oh, you have no idea how far away I have been, Iceland though and let the Dane hug him few seconds. If they let Denmark to decide, he would hug them forever. That was why they had limitations for him, but this time Iceland felt like closeness was okay so he didn’t really hurry to get away. 

“Dan, I believe it’s my turn to make him feel awkward”, Norway noted and the Dane let the Icelander go with a grin.

“Sure, elskede”, he said and pushed the Icelander gently to the Norway’s direction. Iceland had barely time to turn when Norway already closed him in his arms.

“How you have been?” the Norwegian asked and just hold him, “have you been eating enough? Should I remind your boss about the work limits?” He sounded worried but there was also a trace of humour in his voice so the Icelander knew that his brother was at least half joking. 

“I’m okay, Nore”, Iceland murmured, “and don’t do that. You scare them.”

“I only do my job”, the Norwegian claimed, “we don’t have own association for nations to protect our rights to I have to do that.”

“Yeah, sure”, Iceland muttered. Finland and Sweden had sneaked closer and were patiently waiting for their turn to greet their Icelandic family member. Sweden had a coffee cup in his hand and he pushed it to Iceland right when Norway let the nation go.

“Islanti”, Finland said happily and hugged him too, though the Finn’s hug was clearly shorter and less clinging that the two previous nations’, “so great to see you again.” Denmark wasn’t the only nation in their group who tended to forget the name rule. Finland did that too, but luckily he wasn’t yelling this time. 

“Yeah, nice to meet you too”, Iceland replied and tried to safe his coffee from being dropped on the floor. Finland smiled and stepped on side to let the Swede have his moment with Iceland. The Icelandic nation actually liked Sweden a lot, especially because the Swedish nation wasn’t a hugging type. He simply placed his hand on the Icelander’s shoulder and nodded. It was his way to show attraction, though Finland claimed he could be finely more intimate if he only wanted to.

“Hej”, he said.

“Hi”, Iceland replied.

“I can carry your bag”, the Swede told him and Iceland nodded. He let the man pick up the bag and followed them out. Denmark was playing with car keys and happily explaining about things he had planned for the week. It seemed like he had been doing that already before Iceland arrived and was simply continuing because he started with Wednesday’s plan instead of Monday’s like normal people would do. 

“I didn’t know you have a car now”, Iceland said and Denmark grinned. It was common for him to not have a car as he preferred to bike or use the public transportation. He was also quite famous of borrowing car from Sweden or Norway and returning it after a month just before he would be forced to pay the registration tax from it. 

“I don’t have one”, the Dane replied, “it’s Nor’s. I was only driving because he was too nervous and mad about you missing our calls that we were afraid he will crash the car. None of us fancy about being in hospital so I snatched the keys.”

“What?”

“Danmark”, Norway said and ignored the Icelander’s surprised look, “I recall about our agreeing that we will not mention that.”

“Yeah, I know”, the Dane replied, “but he will guess it when he see the mess in the house.”

“There is no mess in the house”, Norway claimed, “I only dropped one coffee cup by accident.” 

“Whatever. It’s a mess”, the Dane said and laughed, “so great to have you all here again. You can’t believe how much fun I have planned.”

“Actually we can”, Finland noted, “you just explained it all.” They arrived to the car and Iceland made his way on the back seat. His brother quickly followed him and Finland decided to have a place on another side which meant that the front seat was left for Sweden. Denmark pushed the key in the slot and looked slightly confused when he realized their seating arrangement. 

“Hey, why I have to sit next to Swede?” he asked.

“I’m wondering exactly same”, Sweden replied calmly and stared at Denmark.

“Your lands are right next to each other so shut up and drive”, Finland said with a bit too sweet voice, “I’m getting hungry.”

“Yes, sir”, the Dane replied. It wasn’t too long drive from the airport to Dane’s home, but they had to take a route through the city and there was lot of road work going on so Denmark couldn’t drive as fast as usually. The normal about one hour travel took more like one hour and forty minutes but they were still in good mood. Denmark was singing with radio and Norway talked with Finland in low voice while Iceland just relaxed and thought about how much he had missed this. For three months he had been keeping himself hided and pretended to be human. It was surprising hard thing to do and there had been few close calls when he almost talked about something that had happened too long time ago or started to act like a nation. He had to keep himself in check all the time.

But here, with his family, he didn’t need to care about accidentally mentioning something he had done in year 1528 or remind himself to not speak about his national economy like it was his own personal business. With them he was free to be what he truly was. Except now he had a secret. 

Norway apparently noticed the change in his mood because he stopped talking in mid-sentence and glanced at the Icelander. Finland fell silent too and looked slightly worried. 

“Are you okay, Is?” Norway asked softly. Iceland was seated between the two nations and because also the Dane and Swede on front seat were giving him attention, Sweden was even turned around and Denmark kept glancing at him through the mirror, Iceland felt slightly embarrassed and awkward though he also had a warm feeling inside of him. This was his family. They cared about him.

“You look exhausted”, Finland commented, “maybe we should change the plans a bit and let you rest.”

“I’m fine”, Iceland murmured, “it has just been a quite busy time lately.”

“Yeah, but better to not over-drive yourself”, Denmark noted and gave him a smile, “you know, we can do the stuff another time. Let’s just have a movie night today or something. I even have snacks and candies at home.”

“I hope it’s not those Nørregade candies”, Norway said and smirked, “they always make you cry.”

“It’s called nostalgia, Nor!”

“Not when you choke on them”, Sweden muttered.

“That’s it, Sve!” Denmark yelled and sounded a bit too happy and excited, “when we get home I’ll show you some nostalgia. Gonna beat you up so much you’ll feel exactly like few hundred years ago.”

“Bring it on, Dane.”

“Remember the rules, boys”, Finland said with a smile, “too much fighting and I kick you both into Baltic Sea.” Norway snickered and even the tired Icelander felt a smile coming up on his lips. He was tired and car drives always made him fell asleep so it wasn’t a surprise he didn’t manage to stay awake this time either. Between Finland and Norway he felt safe and it was okay to close eyes for a moment.

When he woke up, he wasn’t in the car anymore. Somehow he had ended up on the couch in the spacious room the Dane currently used as his living room. Denmark’s house was big and old so it had more than enough rooms for all of them. He even had a small salon fit for dancing and enough bedrooms to have a small village living in there. Others often questioned why he wanted still to live in that old house, especially now that he lived alone and he didn’t have housekeepers, but he simply said that the place held so much memories. Also, he had closed off most of the space so it wasn’t too hard to keep up the few rooms he actually used daily. Also, it helped that he was always full of energy so cleaning up the almost endless hallways wasn’t problem for him. 

The Dane’s living room was like a perfect pic of himself. It had soft armchairs, big couch and all the nice colours that still blended well with white walls and the light coming from windows. He had photos on the wall and tables, mostly of his family but also few nice landscape pics and city views, and everything smelled like sunlight, happiness and a hint of sea salt. If Iceland had to pick up one word to descript the living room, or the whole house, he would have to use Danish and said that it was simply hygge. 

He felt slightly confused to wake up there and not in his own room in the Dane’s house or in that dim, small room he have been living in for few past months. In fact he did have his own room in Denmark’s house, just like he had one in Norway’s too. It has been his already few centuries and Denmark let him to do whatever he wanted to do with it so it was quite comfy and homely place for the Icelander. 

“Hej Is”, a cheerful voice said, “Island has awaken!”

“You don’t need to yell that when we are standing right behind you”, Norway commented and Iceland pushed himself up to see that his whole family was in fact standing at the door. 

“Hei”, he said, “how long I slept?” It looked like it was still light outside so he guessed that it couldn’t be too long.

“Only few hours”, Finland replied, “you looked like you really need a nap so we decided not to wake you up for the lunch.”

“We still left you some”, Denmark declared, “because you also look like you need food.” 

“Sorry about making you sleep on the couch”, Norway added, “it was easier to carry you here than to upstairs.”

“That’s okay”, Iceland muttered and felt the hungriness now that food had been mentioned, “so, who did that lunch?” They all could cook fine but there were some things to take a count. If it was Finland who made the food, there were always some risks about getting something what he called “experimental”. Norway again preferred to make only simply dishes because he claimed to be too busy for anything else so half of the time he would offer porridge. Denmark was okay and did nice meals but he was way much better with baking so Sweden was actually the best choice out of them to prepare food. 

“Me”, Sweden said and raised his hand. 

“Ah, okay”, Iceland muttered, “then I think I’ll have some.” Sweden simply nodded and wandered to the kitchen to re-heat some lunch for the Icelander. 

“Isn’t it funny that he always asks first who did the food before agreeing on eating it?” Denmark said and grinned at the Icelander. Finland just shrugged and decided to follow the Swede while Norway walked to Iceland and sat down on the couch next to him. Denmark came closer too, but he only simply leaned against the backrest. 

“Would you like to tell me more about the work that has been draining you this much?” the Norwegian asked and, though Iceland wasn’t surprised about him being interested about it, it was a bit uncommon for him to go straight on the topic. Usually he liked to sneak around the corners and do all kind of weird tricks to get the information he wanted. 

“It’s nothing important”, Iceland mumbled.

“Island”, Norway said and stared at him.

“Really, Nore”, the younger nation replied, “it’s just the work. Everything is fine.”

“Yeah, Nor”, Denmark said and managed to surprise them both. Iceland couldn’t remember any time when Denmark had taken anybody else’s than Norway’s side. Norway gave the man a quick questioning look, but nodded after a while.

“Well, you are an adult and capable nation”, he noted, “but remember that you can always ask us if you need help.” Iceland felt a sting of guilt and sadness, but he couldn’t tell them what he was actually doing. It was way too embarrassing to be the only nation sent to University. 

“But anyway”, Denmark said and gave them a smile, “while you slept, we decide to cancel all the plans and just be all hygge and let you rest.”

“You cancelled even that Legoland trip you spoke about?” Iceland asked. There had been other plans too but that was actually only one his sleepy mind could remember. The Dane had been more than excited about it.

“Yeah”, he said and shrugged, “it is a place with lot of plastic blocks. It can wait.”

“Also, we have seen it already million times”, Norway added, “but you are the only Icelander we have so better to take care of you.” Iceland looked away and felt his cheeks warm up because of his brother’s too embarrassing words. Still, he nodded. 

“Okay”, he mumbled, “I think some rest would be good.”

“Islanti?” Finland asked from the door just at that moment and managed to save the situation turning even more awkward, “food is ready. Do you want to eat here or in the kitchen?”

“Kitchen”, Iceland replied and proceeded to make his way to there. All other nations followed him and casually spent time in the kitchen while the Icelander ate. It was just a bit annoying when they clearly kept him on eye but somehow it also felt good. It was just so nice to know that somebody cared about him so much.

They spent rest of the day just hanging out in the living room and playing some games. Finland and Sweden had both had some international meetings during the past week so they happily told about what they had heard from other nations. Or it was more like the Finn gossiped everything and Sweden either nodded or shook his head after questions. Iceland sat between his brother and Denmark and just forgot all about his duties. Sweden had made him hot chocolate and he swore it was the best one in the world. The room was filled up with noise and laugh of people who knew and loved him, and it was just perfect. 

Next morning found Iceland from his own room in Denmark’s house, between soft blankets and arms hugging the pillow. It was still early, even Denmark was still sleeping in the room he shared with Norway. Norway actually did have his own room in the house, just like Finland also had thought he probably didn’t even remember which one was his, but he claimed that his room was too dim and he didn’t like it. Apparently it was the only reason why he slept in the Dane’s room but for some unknown reason he never clarified why he just didn’t pick up another one of the numerous rooms if the only problem was simply that he disliked his original room. 

Iceland heard his phone going off but he just wanted to ignore it. The bed was so soft and he loved this room so much more than one he lived in the student housing. But the phone was demanding his attention and finally the Icelander groaned and picked it up.

_ Tomas: Which time we gonna meet up today? _

_ Julia: Is 8:00 okay? I prefer to be ready as soon as possible.  _

_ Tomas: Same. Have to read for exams. _

_ Claus: I might be a bit late but showing up anyway. _

_ Tomas: Anybody seen Erik? _

_ Julia: Not since last class. _

_ Claus: Same. _

_ Tomas: ERIK! _

_ Julia: Maybe he is just sleeping.  _

_ Tomas: Yeah, my bad. I should have asked about this yesterday. _

Iceland froze when he saw the messages. Last evening had been relaxing but he had managed the “forget everything” –part too well and the study meeting scheduled for this morning had slipped out of his mind. He cursed under his breath and quickly typed a reply.

_ Eiríkur: I’m sorry. I had a late evening and I over-slept. I’m on way now. _

Iceland jumped out of the bed and quickly put some clothes on, not really caring if they were fitting colours or something. This was the last meeting they would have before they had to hand in their group work and, though Iceland didn’t care about the grades too much, he didn’t want to be the one bringing his group down. Those guys actually had dreams and hopes about good results and it wasn’t fair for them if just one nation without passion for studying failed them. When Iceland stepped out of room, he felt his phone vibrating.

_ Tomas: It’s okay! Claus is gonna be late too anyway.  _

_ Julia: I can get us some coffee.  _

Iceland sent them a like to show that he saw the message. Then he tip topped to the downstairs and listened carefully, but couldn’t hear any signs of life. So far that he knew, all other Nordics were still sleeping and they were all known for enjoying their free mornings with long sleeps so Iceland didn’t expect them to be up. He was wrong.

“Are you going out?” Denmark asked and jumped in front of Iceland from behind the corner. Iceland was so surprised that he almost dropped his back.

“Yeah”, he replied, “what you are doing here?”

“I live here”, the Dane replied and grinned. He was wearing his pyjama and looked like he was going to go back to the bed soon. 

“I got that part”, Iceland mumbled, “I mean, should you be in the bed? I bet Nore is there.”

“Yeah, I’m going back there”, the Dane replied, “just needed to check something. Where you are going?” Iceland didn’t reply right away because he hadn’t come up with any good excuses so he had to think up one now. 

“Just”, he said and tried to sound not too unsure, “to my embassy. I got some urgent things to deliver to them.”

“Right now?” Denmark said and frowned, “they should know to not bother you during our family meeting.”

“It’s just so urgent”, Iceland said with a shrug, “it will only take like couple of hours anyway.” Denmark looked suspicious but he still nodded and accepted the Icelander’s excuse. The young Nordic nation thanked his luck that it wasn’t Norway who had surprised him while he tried to sneak out. The Norwegian nation would never believe such hasty excuses and would see behind the lies right away. That was why Iceland had to be careful around the Norwegian if he wanted to keep his secrets. 

“Okay”, Denmark said, “do you want to take the car? Nor will not mind.” Iceland hesitated but nodded then. It wasn’t too hard to get to the city with the public transportation but taking a car would safe some time. 

“Yeah”, Iceland replied.

“The keys are in my jacket’s pocket”, the Dane said and smiled at him, “don’t work too much, Is. I’ll prepare us a brunch later so remember to come back for that.”

“Sure. Thanks”, Iceland said. Denmark nodded and yawned when he walked back to upstairs. Iceland would have loved to go back to bed too, but he had responsibilities elsewhere. He sighed sadly and step out to the slightly cold morning air. Before driving off, he made only one call more.

“ _ íslenska leyniþjónustan. How can I assist you?” _

“Morning”, Iceland said with a neutral and serious tone, “could you make sure that if anybody calls my embassy in Denmark any time during next three hours and ask about me, they will say that I’m there but having a meeting with ambassador and can’t answer for the call no matter what?” 

_ “Sure. Would you like to us inform you if somebody do call and ask about you?”  _

“That would be nice. Thanks”, Iceland said and closed the phone after the voice wished him a nice day. He was very good with hiding his feelings behind the neutral look on his face, but he still couldn’t stop himself feeling awful. He felt so bad about this and he didn’t want to lie to his family, but it was too late to turn back. 


	5. Higher failing

“I didn’t know you have a car”, Tomas said first when he saw the Icelander stepping in the library. The group was seated in the cosy are by the window so they had spotted the Icelander driving a car. 

“Yeah, I don’t”, Iceland replied and shrugged, “or well. I have one back home, but that one is my brother’s.”

“Which one?”

“I guess it’s the Norwegian’s”, Julia said before Iceland had time to reply, “the license plate has a Norwegian flag.”

“She is right”, Iceland muttered and sat down at the end of the table. He opened his laptop and waited for the system to start up. The device was already old, but Iceland didn’t want to get a new one yet. 

“So what his car is doing here then?” Tomas asked, “wait, he lives in Norway?” Iceland had already got used for Tomas’ way to just ask questions on anything he was curious about so he didn’t feel too attacked anymore about the direct interrogation. 

“I borrowed it”, Iceland replied, “and yes, but he is visiting.”

“I thought your brothers live with you in Iceland”, Tomas noted. It seemed like he was way more interested about the Icelander’s life than the task they all should be doing. He didn’t even glance at hos laptop, though he had managed to get the right file open. 

“No, they all have their own places”, Iceland said, “we used to live in Denmark, but got then separated later.”

“What? You have been living here before?” Iceland blinked and nodded slowly. 

“Yeah, it was a long time ago.” It had been centuries ago, actually. 

“Are any of your brothers still living here?”

“One of them, yeah.” The one that was the country itself surprisingly still spent most of his days in his own land, though it was normal to find him in Norway’s house too.  

“That’s cool, I haven’t heard you speaking about them a lot.”

“They are always so busy.” And he was desperately trying to avoid them. 

“Why they are living in different countries?”

“We all work for governments.” Kind of. 

“Woah! You too?”

“Yeah, I’m a part-timer.” Because his people were traitors who liked to torture him with unpleasant tasks and send him away.

“Why your brother is living in Norway and not here with you?”

“He really likes Norway.” Well, the Norwegian nation was proud enough to admit that he rather liked himself and his land.

“He has to like it a lot if he was willing to move away from his family.”

“Trust me, nobody likes Norway more than him”, Iceland noted dryly, “except my Danish brother. He is in love with that nation.” Literally.

“Wait a moment”, Julia said and interrupted Tomas’ endless list of questions, “you are studying your masters and working for the government at the same time?”

“Yeah”, Iceland said with a shrug. His life had been tightly tied to his country’s business so long that it wasn’t only a job anymore. It was him. 

“Isn’t it too much to study and have that kind of job?” she asked with a slightly worried voice. 

“It’s hard, but okay”, Iceland replied, “it’s kind of family thing so I can’t really drop it.” Surprisingly all the humans looked shocked when he told them that. Even Carl, who had been more interested on playing with his phone than asking questions, raised his head and gave the Icelander a weird look.

“Erik”, Julia said after a brief silence, “are they… Making you to do this?”

“What?”

“They are, right?” Tomas said, “your family is forcing you to do this!”

“It would explain why you are always so unhappy about going to the class”, Carl noted. Iceland stared at them and wondered why these humans were so concerned about him. He wasn’t even spending time with them if the group work and classes didn’t count, and they probably didn’t because all Iceland did was to do his work. Nations and humans didn’t mix up well. 

“It’s not really like that”, the nation finally mumbled when the humans started rather loudly to discuss about the Icelander, “hey, can we just do this work? I’ll have to go back for brunch soon.” Three young humans stared him a moment longer but then they turned back to their laptops.

“Of course”, Julia said with a gentle voice. Somehow Iceland understood that she hadn’t really dropped the topic, but for now the nation had dodged the bullet. 

When Iceland returned to Denmark’s house few hours later, he found his family hanging out in the kitchen and living room. Denmark was preparing the brunch just like he had promised and the house was full of smell of good food. Norway was sitting in the kitchen and sleepily chatting with the Dane while sipping his first cup of coffee. Finland and Sweden were in the living room and cuddling on the couch, the Finn sitting between the Swede’s legs and leaning on him while reading the newspaper. Sweden read it over his shoulder and occasionally murmured comments about the topics. 

“Perfect timing!” Denmark yelled when he spotted the Icelander, “just  five mins more and we can start to eat. Nor, could you set the table?” Norway nodded and went to get the plates. He was moving slowly and looked a bit lost but nobody was worried about that. It was normal for him to behave like that during the lazy mornings and before he got enough coffee. But even if his movements were slow, his mind still worked fine so Iceland tried his best to no look like he was doing anything suspicious. Without saying anything he started to help his brother.

“How was your embassy?” Norway asked after a while. 

“What?”

“Your embassy”, the Norwegian repeated, “Dan said you had some urgent business to talk about with them.”

“Yeah, right”, Iceland muttered, “it was fine.”

“I don’t want to criticise your people but arranging an urgent meeting so suddenly this early I morning is quite unpleasant”, Norway noted, “isn’t the embassy supposed to be closed until 10 o’clock?” Iceland hadn’t got any messages from the secret service so he knew they haven’t tried to contact the embassy, but he still felt a sting of panic. Surprisingly Denmark came to his help without the man even knowing he was helping.

“The Icelandic ambassador always has the meetings early in the morning”, he said and smiled widely, “I remember when he was appointed here and I went to meet with him. He had been up and going already long before the sunrise. He even tried to get me join him for a morning jog.”

“Yeah, he is a morning person”, Iceland agreed. Norway placed the forks on the table and nodded.

“I see”, he said and jumped on another topic, “Dan, I think we will need to go to shop or eat out tomorrow.”

“Why not to do both?” Denmark asked and brought the food on the table. He had prepared a little bit everything and Iceland was sure it would take more than one day to eat it all. 

“Yes, you are right”, Norway nodded, “could you be nice and call Fin and Sve here? I feel too lazy to yell.”

“Anything for you, elskede”, the Dane grinned, “Fin! Come to eat and bring that ugly Swede with you! I made some weird Swedish stuff for him and it’s not edible for anybody else!”

“I see I should have given more detailed instructions”, Norway sighed. It didn’t take long for Finland and Sweden to come there from the living room.

“Hej, Is”, Finland said and smiled while holding the Swede’s hand, “nice, everything looks so good.” The Finn didn’t hesitate to sit down and start to hoard food on his plate. Others followed his example and soon the kitchen was filled up with chatting and cutlery scratching slightly against the plates. Iceland stayed mostly quiet, only replying to questions and giving out few well-placed comments, and he was happy that nobody seemed to think any more about his morning trip. So far, so good.

Somehow Iceland managed to keep his secret for the rest of six days. It helped a lot that he didn’t need to go to university as they didn’t have any classes before the exam that would be on next week. In other hand, it wasn’t easy for Iceland because he had to read and prepare for that exam without letting anybody to know what he was doing. Luckily his family was used for seeing him with his phone so he managed to read most of the material secretly while they thought he was just playing or something. He didn’t really know what they were thinking about him doing. He didn’t ask. 

Without the on-coming exam he would have actually enjoyed that relaxing family meeting. After all the plans were cancelled, they spent more time just simply talking watching movies or playing games. Sweden, Denmark and Norway even sparred on the back yard, though they rarely picked up swords anymore. Finland kept himself busy with doing crosswords, which also gave lot of fun for others because the man couldn’t remember what language he was supposed to use and kept switching between them all. Norway played his violin, Denmark made puzzles and challenged everybody for chess, and Sweden was doing small fixing around the house because he was sure the Dane was not suitable to do anything like that. They went to eat out few times, but luckily Denmark picked every time a place that was either far from Copenhagen or too expensive for students so Iceland didn’t meet any of his classmates. They also had to go to shop twice and on Thursday Finland announced that they had been inside too long and took them all for a long hike. They also got lost, which was very impressive achievement especially for Denmark as it was his land and they were only couple of kilometres away from the place he had been living last few centuries. 

But finally the week was at the end and it was time to return to the work, or in Iceland’s case, to his miserable student life. Finland and Sweden left after the breakfast on Sunday. Sweden had arrived with a car from his home and, though Finland had flied to Copenhagen, he followed the Swede and announced that he was going to spend two more days with him in Stockholm before returning to Helsinki. When Sweden’s car disappeared around the corner, Denmark let a sad sigh and glanced at the two last nations who were still in his house. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay a bit longer?” he asked hopefully, though they had talked about it already last evening.

“I’m sorry, Dan”, Norway said with a soft voice and patted his hair, “I must to return to my land and start to work again.” Denmark pouted but nodded anyway.

“It’s okay”, he said, “I’ll still love you.”

“How lucky I am”, Norway chuckled and turned to his brother, “Is, which time your flight is leaving?” This time the Icelander had done his work and checked when there actually was a flight to Reykjavik. 

“18:45”, he said.  

“See, Dan, Island will keep you a company a bit longer”, Norway told the Danish man.

“But I want you all to stay here with me”, Denmark complained.

“Unfortunately impossible”, Norway replied, “but you can help me to pack.” Denmark nodded and followed the man. Iceland only rolled his eyes and decided to go to read somewhere that was so far from their room than possible. It wasn’t hard to guess that packing would take much longer than it was supposed and that was why Iceland wasn’t really surprised when the men showed up next time two hours later. Norway’s hair was slightly messier than normally and Denmark was grinning while he held the Norwegian. 

“Where is the suitcase?” Iceland asked when the couple walked past him. He had found a perfect reading place on the wide window sill that was secured by the curtains so they didn’t see him until he spoke up. 

“What suitcase?” Denmark asked.

“It’s already in the car”, Norway replied quickly and smirked, “I packed it before breakfast in order to save some time.” The Icelander slid down form the sill and gave them both a long look. He only got smirks and amused looks back.

“Goodness, you two are disgusting”, he stated. 

“But we love you.”

“Still disgusting”, Iceland said, “are you leaving now, Nore?”

“Yes, I’ll have to be back home before sun fall”, he replied.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat lunch with us?” Denmark asked, but Norway shook his head.

“I’m already running late”, he said and caressed the man’s arm, “sorry, Dan.”

“I’ll pack you some sandwiches”, Denmark promised, “you know, made with love.”

“Come on, you two”, Iceland groaned when his brother and the Dane started to stare each other in the eyes and clearly forgetting that Iceland was still there too. Norway leaned to kiss the Dane gently before replying to his brother.

“Yes, Island?” he asked innocently.

“You are disgusting.”

“I believe you have stated that opinion already few times today”, Norway replied with a smirk and stepped then closer to hug his brother, “be good, little brother, I hope we will see again soon. Don’t work too much and remember that you can always call me if you need help. My home is not too far from yours.” 

“Okay, Nore”, Iceland said and rested his head on his brother’s shoulder. It felt very safe to be like this. Norway had always protected him, though it was hard to keep all the bad away when they lived forever. It was shame that Iceland had to lie to him. 

“I’m so proud of you”, the Norwegian whispered and stroke his hair one last time before stepping away. Denmark had gone to the kitchen and came back with a small box that he gave to Norway. After few more goodbyes to Iceland and kisses to Denmark, the Norwegian took off. Denmark waived after him until he couldn’t see the car anymore, and then he sighed.

“I really hate it when you guys leave”, he said sadly.

“You know that you are going to see him next week”, Iceland noted, “I think I saw that in Nore’s timetable.”

“That’s true”, the Dane admitted, “but it’ll be work related. I’ll have to sit at the same table with him, right opposite, and be all professional and so  _ when he is right there. _ It’s sad, Is, I can’t even stand up and go and kiss him because they want me to focus on my work. So unfair.”

“I thought you do that sometime anyway.”

“Yeah, of course”, Denmark said with a grin, “I do when it’s only us and our bosses. They know already anyway. But with big meetings I have to act like I’m not completely in love with that amazing Norwegian creature because apparently it’s suspicious.” 

“Dan, you still always spend together all the time outside of the meetings”, Iceland said and wasn’t really impressed about Denmark’s complaining, “you even get the hotel room together every single time and for sure none of us believe anymore that it’s because Nore wants to save money.”

“Well, we always ask you if you want to join in our room-sharing money-saving too”, Denmark said with a grin, “but you always say no.”

“No matter how much money I would save, I’ll not sleep in same hotel room with you two.”

“Wou, rude”, Denmark said but stil keep grinning. 

“No”, Iceland replied, “just common sense. You would kick me out for the half of night anyway.”

“Maybe”, the Dane said with a shrug, “well, do you want lunch? I’m going to make some.”

“Sure”, Iceland replied and followed the man in to the kitchen. He sat down at the table and started to read his exam papers while Denmark cooked. Usually the Dane liked to chat while he prepared food but this time he seemed to be satisfied with the silence because he only hummed some song and briefly commented few things he had seen earlier on TV. Iceland replied with short words and focused on reading so much that when Denmark placed a full plate front of him, he almost dropped his phone because of surprise. 

“Food time, Is”, the Dane said and looked amused about the fact that he had managed to startle the younger nation. 

“Oh, thanks”, Iceland mumbled and picked up the fork, “what this is?”

“Food”, Denmark said with a shrug, “don’t give me that look. I have seen you eating sheep heads.” Iceland shrugged and pushed a fork full in his mouth. Actually it was quite good food so he finished his plate quickly while Denmark stared at him and wondered if the younger nation had been starving. He didn’t usually wolf down his food so fast. But the Dane didn’t say anything about his worries because Iceland had heard enough of them fussing over him during the week. 

“We don’t have car now, but if you want I can go with you to the airport”, the Dane said after they had both eat enough lunch, “or at least bike with you to the train station.”

“It’s okay if you come with me to the station”, Iceland replied. It would be much faster to bike than walk there and if the Dane didn’t follow him to the airport, Iceland would be free to just go to his room in the student apartment without pretending any longer that he was going to fly to Iceland. 

“Great”, Denmark said and smiled, “I think it’s better to leave soon. I don’t want you to miss the flight.”

“You are right”, Iceland agreed and glanced at the clock to see that their late lunch had taken some time and it was already almost two o’clock. He helped the Dane to clean up the kitchen and then went to get his bag. He gave a sad look to the room and decided that he was definitely going to miss the soft bed, fresh smell and party-free home. But the nation had to do what nations do and follow the orders of his traitorous people. With a sigh he picked up the bag and headed downstairs. Denmark had already found the keys to his second bike and jokingly he told the Iceland to be prepared for a wild ride. Iceland rolled his eyes and remind the Dane that the amount of times when he had ended up hurt after the ”wild” ride was suspicious large. 

It didn’t take a long to reach the train station with a bike. Iceland had almost forgotten how easy it was to get by that in Denmark’s land. It was actually the main reason why Denmark didn’t always had his own car It was just so easy to go anywhere with a bike. Iceland almost asked if he could keep one because it would be so fast and cheap to go to the classes with a bike, but he managed to hold his tongue just in time. Denmark wasn’t supposed to know what he was doing and asking for a bike would give it away pretty quickly. The Dane was maybe slow with noticing things but he wasn’t stupid. 

“So Island”, the man said and let the bikes lean against the wall with many others, “have a nice travel.”

“Thanks, Dan”, Iceland muttered and then raised his arms a bit for an awkward sign that he would be okay with a hug. The Dane took the hint and crushed him tightly against his chest. 

“Remember to not over-exhaust yourself”, Denmark whispered, “we all love you.”

“Okay”, Iceland mumbled, “I love you too.” The Dane stroked his hair like he had done when Iceland was small enough to sit on his lap.

“The train is here”, he finally said and let go, “see you soon, Is.”

“Yeah, see you”, the Icelander replied and stepped in the train with other passengers. Denmark waved to him and Iceland sighed while waving back. The break was over and he had few exams to survive. 

When the train left Denmark started to make his way back home. It was much slower now because he was driving one bike and steering another with one hand. He knew it would have been smarter to just walk but why to walk when you could bike? He was smiling though he still felt sad about the fact that his house was empty and quiet again. But like Iceland had said, he would meet up with the others soon again. Just when he was reminding himself about on-coming meetings, he heard his phone ringing. It wasn’t really surprising him, he had been waiting for this call so he stopped the bike and moved on the side. 

“Hej, Nor!” he said happily.

_ “Hei, Dan”  _ the Norwegian replied,  _ “did Island left already?” _

“Yeah, I just took him to the train”, Denmark said, “where are you?”

_ “In… Wait a moment, Uddevalla. I stopped to eat the lunch before crossing the border”,  _ Norway explained, “ _ but tell me, how was he?” _

“He is fine, Nor”, Denmark said, “you know how the work gets sometime. I’m sure he has been only getting stressed with some projects or something. That happens to all of us sometime.”

_ “You are right”,  _ Norway admitted after brief thinking, though he still sounded slightly worried, “ _ I checked his country’s information and all seems to be okay.” _

“Yeah, you see. I’m sure he can take care of himself”, Denmark said, “we raised him, remember?”

“ _ True. I’m only worried about him sometime.” _

“Of course, you are his big brother”, the Dane noted, “but Nor, tell me how you liked the sandwiches? Could you taste the love?”

_ “I appreciate the fact that you used my favourite fish”,  _ Norway said and made the Dane to laugh. He knew the Norwegian and his ways to sometime avoid admitting that he loved something. 

“I love you too, elskede”, he said.

_ “So I have heard”,  _ Norway replied and added after a brief silence,  _ “I love you.” _

“See you next week”, Denmark said softly, “call me when you get home.”

_ “Of course. You think I’ll miss our evening call?”  _ Denmark assured him that he hadn’t been thinking like that. After few more words they said goodbye and the Dane continued his way with the bikes while the Norwegian started his car again. 

The exams had really drained the poor Icelander but when he finally finished the last one, he felt the sweet relieve and feeling of freedom. Nothing mattered anymore and he didn’t eve care if he passed or not. He was free.

“This is the best”, Julia muttered when they all four sat down on the stairs, “this was your last exam too, right?” All the three guys nodded and Tomas made a thumb up.

“I’m not sure if I passed the second one”, Carl murmured.

“Don’t think about that”, Tomas said and patted his shoulder, “it’s over now. We are free.”

“Speaking about free”, Julia said, “any plans for the study break?”

“I still can’t believe they give us one week holiday after exams. It’s like a gift from heaven”, Tomas said and shook his head like he was sure it was all a dream, “I’m going to make a quick visit to the Netherlands. My mom has a birthday.”

“Cool”, Carls muttered while Iceland stared at Tomas.

“You are a  _ Dutch?” _ he asked and Tomas stared back at him for a while before bursting into laugh.

“Yeah, I’m a real deal”, he said, “this is what you get when you don’t play the Guess the nationality -game.”

_ “ _ I’m not terrified”, Iceland said, “just surprised. You are not exactly like that another Dutchman I know.”

“Ooh, you know another one too”, Tomas said, “who?”

“He is a friend of my Danish brother”, Iceland said with a shrug, “I have seen him few times at work but we are not too close.”

“Shame. We Dutch are awesome”, he noted, “well, I hope you can live with my Dutchness now on.”

“I think I will survive”, Iceland muttered and nodded.

“Cool”, Carl noted, “and about the holiday, I was planning to make a small trip to Sweden.”

“Where exactly?” Julia asked, “I was thinking about a trip to but couldn’t decide where to.”

“Just to Stockholm and some places near it”, Carl replied, “want to join in?”

“If you don’t mind”, Julia said with a smile. 

“Of course not”, the man replied and glanced at the Icelander, “you want to come too?” Iceland shook his head because he had a list of tasks waiting for him and he didn’t really feel like he wanted to go hang out in Sweden’s land. With his luck he would run straight into the Swede or, even worse, into the Finnish nation. Sweden might take a surprise visit without questions but Finland was way to curious to let something like that to pass without figuring out what exactly was going on. It was too big risk to take.

“I’ll pass”, he told the humans, “I have some work to do.”

“Even during holiday?” Tomas asked, “damn, you have to be very important for them.”

“Yeah, I’m irreplaceable”, Iceland said and glanced at his clock, “I think I should go home. I’m not feeling good.” He felt so tired and he was sure he was going to get a headache anytime soon. He wasn’t too worried about that but he thought a nap would be a good idea before he would start to read the economy report he got few days earlier.

“Okay, don’t get sick!” Tomas said. Iceland nodded and waived for them before walking away. The air had gotten colder and the wind from the sea definitely didn’t make Iceland feel any better. He moved his scarf to protect his neck better but he still felt the cold in deep inside. When comparing to his land, Denmark wasn’t too windy, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. When Iceland arrived to his room, he felt too tired to do anything else than lock the door and fall on the bed. 

It was dark outside when Iceland woke up again. He felt stiff and feverish which made him so tired that he didn’t really care to move. Only reason why he moved at all was the fact that his dumbed mind realized that he was still wearing his day clothes. He groaned slightly and started to pull the clothes off, dropping everything on the floor and snuggling under the blanket after. He fell soon back into restless dreams.

The next day was confusing to him. He knew he woke up few times only to fall back asleep soon when the sickness took its hold again. His body was fighting against it but even his natural skills for fast healing were not working as well they should. He had fever and his head felt like it was going to explode in any moment. His sense of time didn’t work either and the every movement made the pain hit him. 

One moment he got awake enough to push himself up and grab his phone. He had a feeling that he had heard it ringing few times, but he was too sick to care about that and he felt that there was something wrong in his eyes too because it was hard to look at the screen. He pushed the speed-dial and settled back on the bed.

“Íslenska leyniþjónustan. How can I assist you?” the serious voice said and Iceland sighed. He had meant to call his boss but apparently he couldn’t even use a phone anymore.

“I’m sorry, I meant to call the boss”, he mumbled.

“He is away from the office today”, the human replied, “but I’m sure we can help you with anything.”

“Okay”, Iceland said, “could you check the economical statistic and the trade situation in the country and to abroad? And also if there had been any large changes in GDP, investments and any possible rates you can find.” His voice was weak and he had to pause between the words to just collect some energy to continue, but the human listened patiently until it was sure Iceland was done with speaking.

“Ísland”, she said and for the first time ever the nation heard anybody from the secret service to speak with anything more than a stern professional tone in their voice, “are you okay?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied, “I’m just… sick. I think.”

“I didn’t know you can be sick.”

“I can”, the nation said and he could hear the deep worry on woman’s voice, “what is your name?”

“Reynheiður”, the human replied, “Reynheiður Bæringsdóttir.”

“Okay, Reynheiður”, Iceland said, “I’ll be okay. Can you tell me everything you can find out so I know if the problem is me or my land?” 

“Of course”, the woman replied, “so, economical information, right?”

“And everything that might affect the country”, Iceland said, “volcano activity too. Never forget about volcano activity.”

“Right”, the human said, “I found it. Are you ready?”

“Of course”, Iceland said and listened when the women listed the figures and different numbers. Nobody knew his land like Iceland himself and he didn’t need to check the facts to notice that everything seemed to be alright. The woman’s calming voice made him feel a bit better and when the call ended after one hour, Iceland knew that his sickness wasn’t nation based and he should be okay soon. It made him feel relief but sadly the knowledge didn’t cure him so he was still too weak to do anything else than sleep. 

Sometime later, Iceland didn’t know how much later, he woke up for somebody banging his door. He rubbed his eyes and wondered why anybody wanted to meet him and also where he was. Everything seemed to be a bit weird for him. But whoever was behind the door, they really wanted to come in because the knocking didn’t stop. Iceland even waited few minutes because he was sure it was just somebody that had made a mistake with finding the right door or the girls upstairs were having a party again. Iceland didn’t care, but because he really wanted to sleep and the annoying person was making it difficult, he slowly slipped out the bed and made his way to the door with shaking legs. He had to lean on the wall in order to stay up and his fingers slipped form the door handle few times before he managed to get it open. 

“Hej, Island”, the intruder said with perfect Danish.  


	6. Higher solution

“Hej, Island”, the intruder said with completely fluent Danish. Iceland stared at the man who was smiling but seemed to do that only to hide is worry. The young Nordic nation blinked, tried to find something to say and, when nothing came up, he slammed the door close. Too bad he was too weak to actually hold the door and Denmark had already slipped his feet in so it was easy for him to gently push the Icelander on side so he could step in.

“What are you doing here?” Iceland asked with a hoarse and weak voice.

“I came to check on you”, the Dane replied and stared at him, “you look like a shit.”

“Thanks”, Iceland muttered. It was hard to stay up and he felt his body swinging. Or maybe the world around him was swinging. He didn’t know and he didn’t realize he had blacked until Denmark was suddenly holding him and helping him to stay up. The Dane frowned and touched his forehead. 

“You are burning up”, the man murmured and gently stroked his hair, “I know you want to do this all by yourself but this is too much. You are coming with me now.” Iceland nodded weakly, mostly because he wasn’t really in the good enough condition to be against of anything. His mind was all covered by the numb feeling and later he only had few memories about how he got in the Dane’s house or what happened in the few days after that. When the sickness finally let him go, he could only recall the Dane reading a book to him with a soft voice and feeding him something liquid. Iceland felt exhausted but at least there was no pain anymore and he could actually think.

“Island?” Denmark asked and stepped in the room with a bowl on his hands, “you are awake?”

“Hej”, Iceland muttered. The Dane smiled and placed the bowl on the side table before coming to check on the young nation. Iceland let him to take the temperature and fuss over him for a moment. The man seemed to be very happy to notice that the Icelander was almost fully recovered. 

“So good to see you up again”, he said, “you really got me worried. You had 40,9 degrees fever! If you were a human, I would have to take you to a hospital.”   

“That explains… a lot”, Iceland said and sighed, “how did you know?”

“That you are sick?” Denmark asked, “you were really pale, shaking uncontrollably and then you fainted. It was kind of easy to notice.” 

“Dan”, Iceland said and moved a bit so his body was comfortably resting on the pillows, “I mean how you knew where I was?”

“Oh, you mean that”, the Dane said and moved the bowl closer to the Icelander, “you want to eat?”

“Thanks”, Iceland mumbled and took the bowl, though he wasn’t sure how much food his stomach could take. Denmark had fed him for sure but he still thought it was better to try to start eating slowly. He didn’t want to upset his stomach just after getting over a sickness. 

“So, about that”, Denmark continued, “I knew everything all the time.”

“What?”

“Yeah”, the older nation nodded, “I was so hurt and confused first when I first realized that you are really here but not letting me to know. I thought you don’t love me anymore. But while I was wondering if I should confront you about it, I realized that you were working hard to keep this all secret from everybody. Because I know you are not a heartless monster, I ended up with the fact that you just want to have this for yourself. You know, to prove that you can do it without us and so on. Or you thought it was embarrassing to go to University. Either way, I decided to let you do what you want.” Iceland carefully sipped the soup and stared at the wall for a moment before replying.

“You were right”, he said, “it’s just… you know…”

“It’s okay”, Denmark said with a smile, “I know.”

“But  _ how  _ you knew I am here?” Iceland asked placed the empty bowl back on the table. He felt tired and it was kind of hard to keep eyes open, but he had to know what had gone wrong with his great plan. 

“I think you should sleep now or you will fell asleep in the middle of story”, Denmark noted, “I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay?” Iceland really wanted to know right away but the Dane was right so he simply nodded.

“Promise?” he mumbled.

“I promise”, Denmark replied, “have I ever broken any promises to you?”

“It once took you eleven years to fulfil one”, Iceland murmured and fell asleep with the Dane softly laughing and watching over him. 

When Iceland woke up again he felt much better. This time his dreams had been peaceful and left him with energy and fresh feeling. He decided that it was time to get up and try to find out how long he had been sick and how Denmark had found him. That mystery was really frustrating him and he was sure he would not be able to rest again before he figured it out. The young nation grimaced when his body protested against moving after being bedridden for so long, but he was stubborn and continue to make his way down to the living room where he thought he could find the Dane. But when he arrived there, he couldn’t see any nations anywhere. Only the radio on the side table was keeping voice and Iceland noted that the radio host was listing the current hit songs and speaking about some kind of competition. 

“Dan?” he called and sat down on the couch, deciding that he was done enough for one day and he didn’t need to walk any farther. He didn’t call the man again but he could hear him moving around the house so it didn’t take a long to him to appear to the living room.

“Are you sure you are ready to be out of the bed?” the Dane asked first and placed the laundry basket next to the chair. He sat down and started to fold the clean clothes while giving the Icelander an observing look. 

“I have been in it too long”, Iceland mumbled, “which day it’s now?”

“Thursday”, Denmark replied.

“I was out for six days?” Iceland asked and the Dane nodded.

“I think so. I came to pick you up on Tuesday”, he said, “sorry about busting your plans but you didn’t reply for any messages or calls. You didn’t even check them so we were all freaking out pretty well. When Norge was ready to start wars to find out where you are and what happened to you, I told him I’ll go to check on you. I had to lie to him, you know. I said I was already in your land so I could just go and get you from that apartment without letting him know that you have been in my land all this time.”

“He doesn’t know?” Iceland asked with a surprise. It was very rare, almost impossible, for the Dane to lie or hide things from Norway. But now the man only nodded.

“This seemed to be important for you”, he explained, “so I didn’t tell anybody. I’m the only one who knows.” 

“Thanks”, Iceland murmured, “how did you find out?” Denmark was trying to find a pair for a sock, but he gave up quickly and simply paired it with another random sock. He didn’t seem to mind that he would be wearing one blue and one red sock at the same time. 

“Well”, the man started and picked up another shirt to fold, “I think it’s easier to start from the beginning. You know that every year lot of students come here from abroad, right? So most of them return to home after studies but there are always some who stays and find their new home here in my land. And anyway, even the ones leaving will be staying here few years so naturally I’m curious about which kind of people they are. That’s why I go through the lists after the CPR-registrations are done.” 

“Oh shit”, Iceland muttered, “you saw mine?” Denmark grinned and nodded.

“Yeah, I did”, he said, “I honestly thought first that somebody had made a mistake and gave your CPR-number away but you still use the same name than last time so it wasn’t hard to guess that Eiríkur Andersen is not a normal Icelander. Good surname choice, by the way.”

“You are welcome”, Iceland said. 

“But that wasn’t all”, Denmark continued, “because I think you forgot something.”

“What?”

“You are still registered as 17 years old here”, Denmark said and laughed softly while organizing the clean clothes on piles, “and to this address. Also, in this land I’m technically your legal guardian so they of course sent me a letter about everything! I even got some nice words about ‘letting the kids go’ and ‘being a proud parent’. It really warmed my heart.” Iceland stared at him and then groaned.

“So stupid”, he said and hid his face on his hands, “I was sure the plan was working.”

“Don’t worry”, Denmark said happily, “it would have fooled Sve. He is stupid. I’m just so smart.” 

“Next time when I have to renew my CPR-number here, I will demand to be marked as 18 years old”, Iceland muttered and sighed. He couldn’t believe that such a stupid mistake had destroyed his plans. 

“That wasn’t actually all”, Denmark said.

“There is more?” Iceland asked and sounded a bit upset. He had tried so hard. 

“Yeah, but it’s not really your fault. I think it was your secret service that failed.”

“You know about them?”

“Of course”, the Dane replied and gave him a grin, “they have been following me everywhere for past three months. I had lot of fun with that.” The thought of the Dane knowing also about the secret service upset the Icelander a bit more. He had thought that their work had been successful. Denmark apparently saw his sour mood because he reached over and patted his hair.

“It’s okay. I think I only spotted them because I knew somebody was following me. They are doing a good job”, the Dane said, “absolutely the best secret service in the world. Per capita.”

“But how did you found out about them?” 

“There are some special rules when it comes to us”, Denmark noted, “like when somebody wants to spy on one of us, they had to ask the permission from that nation’s government. It’s of course a weird rule that makes whole spying thing pretty useless, if you are not cheating. But anyway, when you asked them to spy on me, they sent a nice letter to my boss and asked if it’s ok.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, I was quite surprised when my boss showed up in my office one morning and asked if my family relations are all okay because Island wants to spy on me”, Denmark said with a laugh, “I think I shocked him with telling that it was ok and he should just agree. He might be thinking now that we have something weird going on.” 

“I thought my plan was great”, Iceland mumbled and sighed.

“It was great”, Denmark assured him, “just with some small fails. You will do much better next time.”

“Thanks”, Iceland said dryly. Denmark placed the last shirt on the pile and leaned back on the chair. 

“But now I think we should talk about what happens next”, he said with un-normally serious tone, “I don’t think living in that place is good for you. I know it’s cheap and kind of ok, but you are a nation. You need your own space too.”

“I don’t really like that room”, Iceland admitted. He could already guess what the Dane was going to say next so the question didn’t surprise him. 

“So, move in with me?”

“Isn’t this place a bit too far from the city?” Iceland asked. Now that Denmark already knew everything, it was very tempting to leave the small and uncomfortable student apartment and just move into a nice, peaceful and familiar place, where young people didn’t threw parties randomly.  

“You will get used for the travel”, Denmark said with a shrug, “but you can also move into my city apartment if you want.” 

“You have a city apartment?” Iceland hadn’t known about that, though it made sense. Most of them did have more than one house after all. 

“Yeah, I use it when I’m working with big projects or having something else great going on and need to be more at the work”, Denmark said, “it’s right in the centrum, you can even see Christiansborg from the window, and it has two bedrooms, living room and kitchen. I think Nor is only one who had been there besides myself so most of people, or nations, doesn’t know about it. It’s just so much smaller that I usually prefer to invite you guys here.” 

“Okay.”

“You can live there for free, of course”, Denmark continued, “I’ll probably be there during the week but most of weekends you will be alone because I have some important business to do in Norway’s land.”

“Okay.”

“And I can make food for you”, the Dane said with a wide smile, “so, what you say?” Iceland shrugged. It wasn’t very hard decision to make after all.

“It’s a deal”, he said and nodded, “but if you annoy me too much, I’ll move out.”

“Of course”, Denmark said with a laugh and looked happy, “oh, and maybe you should tell Kristfríður and Jöfur that they don’t need to follow me anymore. I think they need a break and maybe a small rise on salary. You have no idea what I made them to go through. Poor guys.”

“You know their names?”

“Yeah, I asked my people to figure those out”, he said, “it felt so rude to call them just ‘Icelanders’.” Iceland sighed and made a mental note for himself to try harder next time he wanted to have secrets. 

Iceland and Denmark ended up spending the few following days in the mansion. The Icelander still needed to collect his strength and the Dane seemed to have nothing too important going on because he didn’t went to work and stayed at home. Iceland had few tasks, though his boss had been informed about his sickness and he didn’t need to worry about work, and he had to make few phone calls to his worried family. Denmark had told him that only reason for Norway not being there was that the man was forced to stay in the meeting in Australia. He had still called almost every hour to ask the Dane how Iceland was doing. 

“Call Nor first”, the Dane said and gave the Icelander the phone he had picked up from the room, “I feel sorry for Australia. Having worried Norge around is not exactly an easy thing.” 

“Sure”, Iceland mumbled and picked up the right contact. His phone was so full of messages and unanswered calls that he didn’t even bother to check them all because it would have taken forever. Norway picked up after one ring despite of the fact that it was supposed to be early morning over where he was. It took Iceland over one hour to assure his brother that everything was fine and Denmark was going to help him until he was fully recovered. It was hard to get Norway to forget about coming straight to Iceland but somehow the Icelandic nation managed to speak him out of it with promising that he would visit the Norwegian next month. That satisfied him enough to agree with the Icelander.

“You are not going to let him know?” Denmark asked after the call ended. Iceland shook his head.

“No”, he said, “I just. I don’t want him to think that I can’t do this alone.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t think like that”, Denmark noted, “and he would be happier if he knew.”

“So you are going to tell him?” Iceland asked and gave the Denmark almost challenging look. 

“No, it’s your business. I’m not gonna mess with your things”, the man said, “oh, by the way, I read that one urgent marked report and send it in with comments. I think it was something about economy. It had awfully lot of things about fish.”

“First you say that you are not going to mess with my business and then right after you tell me that you literally messed with my business?” Iceland asked with slightly sarcastic tone and the Dane nodded with a smirk. Iceland sighed and decided to call his boss and the secret service next to explain the situation. 

“…And you can have this room”, Denmark explained with an excited voice and showed the Icelander the second bedroom of the apartment. It was clearly been never used and Iceland guessed that it had been either came with the furniture when Denmark bought the place or he had had somebody to bring stuff in while they had stayed at the mansion. The room had a slightly neutral and hotel-room feeling but it was sunny and much bigger than the one Iceland had had in the student apartment.  Of course the apartment was old, most of buildings in Copenhagen’s centrum were, but it had been fixed well and it had a modern look. Overall, the apartment was almost completely opposite to the Dane’s old mansion, but still a homely feeling place.

“It’s nice”, Iceland commented and dropped his bags on the floor. They had retrieved all his stuff earlier with a car the Dane had borrowed from his assistant. 

“Good”, Denmark said, “my room is right there and kitchen and living room are one, big open place. I even have a bath tub in the bath room but it’s not big enough to swim in.”

“Those rarely are.”

“Yeah”, Denmark sighed sadly, “oh, come here.” He took the Icelander’s hand and walked him to the living room. 

“Nice view”, Iceland said when the Dane pointed at the window. It looked like they had been recently renewed and made to be bigger than the originally ones had been in order to bring more light inside. Because the apartment was on the highest floor, Iceland could see over the city and to the castle that stood in small distance. A busy road went between them, but there were not too much noise coming in to the apartment. 

“If you look right there”, Denmark said and pointed at the castle, “my office is the third window from left.” He gave the Icelander binoculars but instead of using them, Iceland gave the man a weird look.

“Binoculars?”

“Yeah”, Denmark replied, “they are very handy. I can check from here how much work they had loaded on my table before deciding if I want to show up at all. Sadly, nowadays so much work is done in computer that I don’t always see the troubles from here before it’s too late.”

“Dan.”

“What?”

“Did you got this place only that you can creepily check out your desk to know if it is better to skip the day?”

“Well”, the Dane said and smirked, “the view is nice.” 

“Sure”, Iceland muttered and shook his head, “so what is the address of this place? I’ll have to update it to the register.”

“Norgesgade 1, 1060 København”, the Dane said and didn’t seem to notice the look Iceland gave him.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah”, he said and tried to hold his smirk, “you want to see an official document to believe it?”

“Norgesgade”, Iceland repeated, “did you got this place also because of the address?”

“Is, you are really good with understanding my reasoning”, the Dane said and laughed. His voice filled the place nicely.

“Sometime I worry about you.”

“Thank you for caring, but I’m fine”, Denmark said and gave him a wink, “okay, let’s go to shop some food. I think that currently the only thing in the fridge is a light.”

“The lamp in there doesn’t work”, Iceland noted, “I checked.”

“Okay, so only thing in the fridge is a darkness”, Denmark corrected himself and grabbed his wallet and jacket from the table, “damn, I will really have to try harder to make you happy.”

“I’m happy”, Iceland muttered and followed the excited Dane.


	7. Higher disappointment

After one month Denmark and Iceland had found routines. It mostly felt like they had slipped back to the times when they last time lived together, so easily they simply adjusted to each other’s habits again. Denmark seemed to be very excited about Iceland’s studies, just like everybody except Iceland was, and he insisted on calling them flatmates. Despite of the Dane saying that he didn’t use his city apartment so much, he ended up being there almost every day. Iceland suspected that it was only because he was staying there too. The Dane was well known for the fact that he liked to have his family around, and he was doing everything to enjoy of having Iceland living with him again. 

Usually it was the Dane who waked up first, though Iceland had to leave earlier to catch a metro to campus. Denmark just was one of those annoying morning persons who were ready to run around long before the sun was up. Luckily he was smart enough to not make too much noise while Iceland still slept. 

“Here is the lunch for you”, Denmark said almost every morning and gave the Icelander a bag of sandwiches when he was leaving. 

“You know that I can make my lunch by myself or just buy it from the campus restaurant?” Iceland asked, but took the offered food and slipped it in his backpack.

“Yeah, but I like to make you a lunch”, the Dane replied and gave the younger nation so pleading look that it wold have put even some puppies in shame. It was really unfair for Iceland because living with Norway had given Denmark lot of training on how to make a perfect puppy face to melt all the hearts. No matter how many times Iceland said he could do something, the Dane always managed to get what he wanted. He still didn’t rule over everything, because they had agreed at least about the cleaning turns and sharing some living costs, but he was clearly trying to be the guardian of the Icelander once again.  

Iceland was usually first one to arrive back home since the Dane was often working later during weekdays. But it was only an hour or two that Iceland was alone before Denmark came back with a smile on his lips and ready to rest after the work day. They often watched TV together or just did whatever they wanted. 

“Hey, Is”, Denmark said and aimlessly switched between the channels to find something to watch.

“Yeah?” Iceland asked. He was sitting on the couch too but he had a book on his lap.

“Want to go to shop food?” the Dane asked, “we are out of milk.”

“Sure”, Iceland said after a brief thinking. They haven’t really started the projects yet so he didn’t have anything to do. He also had significantly less nation related work now. Iceland wasn’t sure what was the reason for that but when he asked his boss about it, he only briefly mentioned about “Denmark being clearly upset” when he had called the Iceland’s boss while the nation was sick. Iceland wanted to ask Denmark what he had done, but the grin man gave him seemed to be the only answer he got. 

“Is Føtex okay?”

“Yeah.” The nations made their way out and walked to the shop. It wasn’t far away so it took only ten minutes from them to arrive to the shop. Iceland walked around and held the basket while the Dane pretty much hust run here and there and brought all the stuff he found to the basket. Iceland preferred to make more planned decisions but Denmark seemed to just get whatever looked nice or was in sale. He also stopped to talk with people and apparently the cashier knew him because they had a nice chat while Iceland still tried to decide if he wanted yogurt with strawberries or just a plain one.  

“Hey, Erik.” Iceland startled a bit when he heard the name the humans in his class called him, but he calmed down quickly when he realized that it was just Julia giving him a sweet smile, and Denmark already knew about the Icelander’s secret so he didn’t need to escape now. 

“Hi, Julia”, he replied, “shopping food?”

“Yes”, the woman replied, “I see that you are doing the same.” She pointed at the basket and Iceland nodded. He could hear Denmark walking closer and it wasn’t hard to guess that the Dane was curious about who he was talking with.

“Yeah”, Iceland replied and glanced at the Dane, “Julia, this is my brother…” He gave the man a look and luckily he understood what the Icelander wanted him to say.

“Matias”, he said with a smile and extended his hand for a shake, “Matias Andersen. Nice to meet you. Eiríkur have been talking about his classmates but I have never had a chance to meet any of you.” Iceland had actually never talked about his classmates, but Denmark tried to be friendly. Julia was clearly taken aback because of the man’s smile and polite behaviour, which wasn’t really a surprise. Denmark wasn’t bad looking and he had this natural way to be friendly and give out a slightly flirty acting even if he wasn’t trying anything. People just often misunderstood him which really annoyed Norway sometime. 

“Nice to meet you”, the woman replied, “you are the Danish one, right?”

“One and only”, Denmark replied, “I see you have heard about our strange family.”

“It’s not so strange to have four brothers”, Iceland noted with a shrug. Denmark gave him a quick glance but easily hid his disappointment from the human. 

“Yes, he talks about you sometime”, Julia said.

“I hope not about too bad things.”

“There isn’t too many good things to talk about”, Iceland murmured and Denmark laughed softly. Julia looked confused first but quickly passed it as a brotherly joking.

“Well, it was nice to meet you but I’ll have to hurry to home”, she said, “see you in the class, Erik!”

“Yeah, see you”, Iceland replied. When the human left, he turned back to the yogurt and decided that the plain one was the best. A quick look told him that the Dane had collected everything else they needed so he started to make his way to the cash desk, only stopping to pick up some liquorice. Denmark was following him but not saying anything. He only stared the Icelander with a slightly weird look on his face and that was really starting to bother Iceland though he knew what the Dane was trying to tell him. 

“Just say it”, he sighed when they got out of the shop, “I know you want to complain. I’m ready.”

“You made me and Norge be brothers”, the Dane said with a loud whine, “brothers!”

“I had to decide quickly and it just came out like that, Dan”, Iceland explained but Denmark wasn’t going to accept it so easily. 

“How can my own family be this rude and force me to be brothers with the love of my life”, he said and shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.

“I only told that for three people”, Iceland noted, “you can still be together.”

“But this is so wrong”, Denmark said sadly, “I only find some happiness form the fact that you told them Sve and Fin are also brothers.”

“Actually”, Iceland said and took a breath, “Fin is a brother-in-law.” Denmark stopped in mid step and gave the Icelander a shocked look.

“So not only you betray me, you also make me the only one”, he said sadly, “this is too much, Is.” Iceland gave him a look and didn’t bother to comfort the Dane. He knew the man was joking. He never used the short version of his name if he was serious. 

“Just take it a like a man, Dane”, he said, “you called Nore a brother before, anyway.” Denmark let his acting to slip off and grinned widely.

“Yeah, but still”, he said, “next time I’ll tell people that you are my son.”

“You are too young looking to be my father.”

“I’ll say I’m just well-preserved”, the Dane declared, “and I can always change our information in the register to look like I’m your father. You know, they actually let me do whatever I want.” Iceland sighed and rolled his eyes. It was true that the Dane was technically his guardian already now because Iceland was so young looking, but he was still marked as an older brother. 

“You don’t dare”, Iceland mumbled and the Dane grinned.

“Yeah, watch me.” 

“I’ll tell Nore.”

“Don’t spoil the fun.”

“It’s not fun, it’s an abuse.” Denmark laughed and hugged the Icelander with one arm. Iceland simply snorted but couldn’t not to admit that he had been missing this kind of time. 

*

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Nore”, Iceland said and held the phone against his ear while taking a yogurt out from the fridge, “I didn’t know until yesterday that I have to attend that meeting in this weekend. I’ll just visit you on next week.” This was already second time Iceland postponed his visit to Norway and the older nation was clearly getting impatient with him. When Iceland had promised that he would visit his brother, he didn’t take it a count that he would soon again be busy with the classes. It wasn’t so bad now than before but he still had only a bit of free time. He had now lived with Denmark almost two months and it somehow helped him.  

“I’m not neglecting you. Stop being ridiculous”, Iceland continued. Denmark was staying quiet and listening, though he couldn’t really heard what the Norwegian was saying. Because of the Dane, Iceland knew now everything about Norway’s schedule and it was easy to lie about being in completely different place than the Norwegian was going to be. 

“Nore, I’ll call you again next week after I have talked about my plans with my boss”, Iceland told his brother with a tired voice, “no, don’t call him. You scare him.” Iceland argued with him a moment longer before the Norwegian finally gave up and agreed on the Icelander’s plan. Iceland dropped the phone on the table and sighed.

“Damn it.”

“You are upsetting him”, Denmark said sadly. 

“I know”, Iceland replied and frowned, “he probably talks about this a lot every time you go over there.”

“It’s the only thing he talks about”, Denmark admitted. Even if Iceland was living with him, he still loyally travelled to Norway almost every weekend or met him in the meetings or during business trips. Usually Norway would have come to Denmark every second weekend but the Dane tried to help the Icelander by telling the Norwegian that he would do the traveling. 

“Sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should tell that”, Denmark murmured and Iceland nodded. He took his snacks in the living room and settled down to work with the project. He was very happy about the modern technology which made it possible to work whenever and where ever he wanted. It made him feel a bit better that he didn’t need to spend all his days at the campus with other students. He was just focused on the task when Denmark poked his arm.

“Is”, the Dane said after Iceland took the earphones off and turned to look at him, “I’ll have a business trip tomorrow so I’ll leave early and come back late. I made you a lunch and dinner ready in the fridge so you just need to heat it up whenever you are hungry.”

“I could have made some by myself”, Iceland muttered.

“Yeah, I know”, Denmark replied with a grin, “but we are out of sheep heads.”

“Stop pretending that it’s all my people eat.”

“Well, we don’t have any fermented shark either.” 

“Danmörk!” Denmark laughed and ran away, leaving the younger nation to wonder if the Danish nation was really an adult. Iceland snorted and pushed the earphones back in his ears. He had some work to do.

Next day started like any normal day. Iceland waked up for his alarm going off and he lay on the bed five minutes more before pushing himself up. He dressed up and made his way to the kitchen where he found the note Denmark had left for him on the fridge’s door. It wasn’t a note really. It was just a smiley face draw on the piece of paper. Iceland stared at it, while sipping some milk and eating a piece of bread. His bag was already packed and waiting him at the front door. He only needed to take his lunch bag from the fridge and walk to the metro.  

The classes went normally. He had a lecture at morning, which meant he mostly just sat there and made some notes in order to not look like he didn’t care at all. After the lecture he worked on the project with his group for few hours. Tomas managed to share half of his life with them during that time but everybody was already so used for him to speak a lot that they didn’t really mind. 

After that Iceland decided to walk home. It was normal too. Metro was of course faster but sometime it just felt good to have some walk and let the fresh air to clean up his mind. He arrived to the empty apartment and, after sitting in silence for a while, he turned the radio on. It brought some noise to otherwise too quiet apartment and helped him with checking the reports he had got from his boss. He was just getting deeply on the trade deals when he heard his phone ringing. A quick glance told him that his brother was calling him once again.

“Hey, Nore”, he said, “I told you I’ll call you back when I know about my timetable.”

_ “I know”,  _ the Norwegian replied calmly,  _ “I’m just living in hope that continuous reminding will make you work on it faster. _ ”

“Nope, it’s only stressing me”, Iceland said dryly, “so stop.” The radio host was speaking about on coming concert with way too much enthusiasm and his over over-happy voice made the Icelander wonder why he had picked up that station at the first place. 

_ “What are you doing now?”  _ Norway asked. Iceland moved the papers a bit to see the title of the report.

“Reading about the trade deals with European Union”, he told the Norwegian, “important business.”

_ “I see”,  _ the Norwegian replied and was a quiet for a moment before continuing, “ _ is that Danish I hear from the background?”  _ Iceland froze for a moment and almost said no before he realized that it would be very bad idea to deny something Norway could easily heard. The radio was too loud and Iceland cursed himself a bit before replying.

“Yeah”, he said, “I was just listening it from internet. Dan got me hooked up with this one stupid program.” Norway didn’t reply anything, but before Iceland had time to ask if he was still there, the call ended. That wasn’t normal so Iceland frowned but decided to let it be. He could never figure out his brother anyway, and the call was soon forgotten when he returned to read about which kind of trades his country was planning to do. 

Next day started normally too, but then it turned quickly to something completely else. Denmark had come back late in the night and he was still sleeping when Iceland got up. Actually the Icelander had been sleeping late too because he didn’t have any classes for that day and the project was going on so well that they had decide to have a day off. Apparently the others had gone to hang out in the city but Iceland had decided to just stay at home and rest a bit. It was also his turn to clean up so it would be good idea to do that. While Denmark was sleeping the Icelandic nation went around the apartment and prepared some breakfast. He was just boiling eggs when his phone ringed. Without checking the caller information, he picked the call. 

“ _ Hey, Icey boy”,  _ a familiar voce said and Iceland frowned.

“Puffin?” he asked, “I didn’t know you can use a phone.”

“ _ I’m not incompetent, you moron”,  _ the puffin replied,  _ “tho, the touch screens are so not made for birds! Stupid phone companies.”  _

“I guess they weren’t aware of you”, Iceland muttered, “but why you are calling now? And where did you get a phone?”

_ “That is not important”,  _ Puffin said,  _ “Icey, we have a problem.” _

“Did you finally wreck my home?”

_ “Nope, I’m still on it. But your brother was here.”  _ Iceland stopped and almost dropped the eggs on the floor. 

“Who?”

“ _ Your brother! That guy who looks like somebody stuffed ice cubes down his throat!” _ the puffin yelled, “ _ the one with the negative name… No way, or something. _ ”

“Nore”, Iceland whispered and felt a slight panic, “what did you tell him?”

“ _ Nothing!” _ the bird replied, “ _ I did the thing all the smart guys do, I stayed fucking  away.” _

“Shit”, Iceland muttered, “he is not stupid. What if he found out?”

“ _ Too bad for you then _ ”, the Puffin said, “ _ it was nice to know you, Icey boy.” _

“Thanks”, Iceland said dryly. 

“ _ You’re welcome _ ”, the bird said, “ _ okay, I have some business to do so try to stay alive, bye!” _

“Bye”, Iceland muttered. He spent next two hours pacing around and slightly panicking but, when the only thing that happened was Denmark questioning his behaviour, the Icelander calmed down. Norway probably had no reason to doubt anything and he hadn’t even called. 

Iceland was wrong but he didn’t find out about that until the evening. He and Denmark were watching TV, it was showing some kind of comedy show that the Dane found hilarious but Iceland didn’t completely understand, but suddenly Denmark stopped laughing and stared at the wall for a moment before a smile appeared on his lips. 

“Nor is here”, he said happily and jumped up to watch out from the window, “there he is!”

“Really?” Iceland asked.

“Yeah, I can’t mix him up with anybody else”, the Dane said and kept staring down to the street, “if you want still to keep your secret, it might be good idea to go hide now.” Iceland nodded and quickly collected all his stuff before hiding in to his room. He had very bad feeling about this and so he left the door slightly ajar. He could see the apartment and hear better everything that was going to happen. 

Denmark smiled and walked to the door. He patiently counted in his head how long it would take the Norwegian to reach the apartment and, when the numbers hit the zero, he threw the door open. Norway, who had just reached for the doorbell, lowered his hand and stared at the Dane without saying anything.

“Nice to see you again, elskede”, Denmark said and managed to wake the Norwegian from his weird state. 

“Don’t call me that when you are lying”, he said with a cold voice and stepped inside, “what have you done?” Denmark gave him a confused look and pushed the door close to keep them safe from curious neighbours.

“What you mean?” he asked. 

“You know what I mean”, Norway said, “where is Island?” Iceland bit his lip behind the door. He could only see the Norwegian’s back but he knew that the man was angry. He only spoke with so collected and cold voice when he was mad about something. When he was worried he would look like he was angry and when he was interested about something he acted like it didn’t matter at all. Norway just worked like that and Denmark and Iceland both knew it. 

“I don’t know. I saw him last time months ago”, the Dane tried to explain but facing the angry Norwegian wasn’t easy for him. Everything in him wanted to do whatever it would take to make Norway calm again but he had promised for Iceland to keep the secret. The decision was tearing him apart.

“I went to his home and found out nobody had been living there for months”, Norway said, “I don’t know what is going on but every evidence I have collected, hints that you are somehow involved. So what have you done?” He put weight on the last sentence which made the Dane panic. Iceland saw the desperate and guilty look on the man’s face and he felt bad. He was horrible brother and this was gone too far. It didn’t matter if they were angry at him but Iceland didn’t want to be the one to destroy Denmark and Norway’s relationship. So he quietly stepped out from his room.

“Danmark, if you don’t tell me now I…”

“I’m here, Nore”, Iceland said and the Norwegian turned around quickly, “Dan has nothing to do with this. I made him to promise he wouldn’t tell you.” Norway glanced at the Dane who nodded slightly.

“Explain”, he ordered.

“I…”, Iceland started and tried to find the right words under his brother’s angry look, “I’m studying here, at the University. That’s all.” Norway glanced at the Dane second time and again the man nodded. Norway was still clearly pissed off but at least he calmed down a bit.

“I think I deserve to have a full story”, he said sternly, “you have no idea how worried you made me.” Iceland nodded.

“It might be best to sit down”, he muttered and soon they were all three seated in the living room. Denmark and Iceland shared the couch and Norway moved one of the arm chairs so he could be seated right opposite of them. The whole situation felt like an interrogation but Iceland tried to not think about that.

“So…” Iceland said and started the story of how he had been forced to pick up the studies and how it had leaded him lying to them all. Norway didn’t ask questions. He only listened and occasionally glanced at the Dane who nodded to confirm the Icelander’s words. After the story reached the current point, Iceland fell silent. For a frustrating long moment nobody said anything. Norway was staring at them with an emotionless look on his face, and Iceland and Denmark both were looking down and feeling ashamed. 

“Nore”, Iceland finally said carefully, “are you angry?”

“Yes”, Norway replied right away, “and very disappointed, but I’ll get over it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are”, the Norwegian replied and sighed, “Dan, I have to…”

“No, no, no”, the Dane said and looked up to him, “if you are going to say ‘break up with you’, I’ll not be listening. I don’t accept. Please Nor, don’t do that.” Norway’s look softened a bit and he shook his head.

“I was going to say I have to apologize about yelling at you earlier”, he said, “breaking up with you would not help at all and, after hearing this story, I think Island is the only one to blame.” Even if Iceland wasn’t off the hook yet, he felt much better when he knew that at least he hadn’t ruined the love story of the centuries. He couldn’t live with himself he had done that. 

“I love you”, Denmark said, mostly just to make sure that the Norwegian knew it.

“I love you too”, Norway said and glanced at the clock, “it’s late. I think it would be best to go sleep now and we will speak more about this next morning.” Iceland nodded and murmured “good night” before he got up and walked to his room. He wasn’t sure if he could sleep at all.  


	8. Higher truth

Norway was already up when Iceland walked to the kitchen after the poorly slept night. The Norwegian was seated at the table and drinking coffee so Iceland stopped for a moment and hesitated. Normally he would have just go and sat down but he wasn’t sure what he should do this time. He felt guilty and awkward. 

“You don’t need to sneak around me, Island”, Norway said without turning to look at the younger nation, “I’m not a time bomb.” 

“Really?” Iceland mumbled, but Norway didn’t seem to appreciate his try to be funny. 

“Do you need to go to a class today?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I can skip it”, the Icelander said, “if you want to talk. Or yell. Or judge me quietly.”

“I didn’t raise you to skip your duties”, the Norwegian replied and got up from the chair, “we will talk when you come back. Remember to call Finland and Sverige so they don’t need to worry anymore.” He left the coffee cup on the table and walked to another room. Iceland heard him telling something to Denmark but he couldn’t hear the words. 

“Okay”, he sighed, grabbed the lunch bag from the fridge and left. 

Iceland had even less motivation in the class than usually and he spent most of the time almost slumped on the desk and staring at the wall. He had no idea what they were supposed to learn and he didn’t really even care. 

“Erik, is everything ok?” Tomas asked when the teacher said they could have ten minute break.

“What?” Iceland asked

“Are you okay?” the humans asked again all three almost at the same time.

“I don’t know”, Iceland murmured and got worried glances.

“Do you want to speak about it?” Julia asked softly after brief awkward silence and patted the nation’s shoulder. Iceland wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about it but people always said that it was supposed to help.

“It’s just my brother”, he said, “I made him angry and now I feel guilty.” 

“Which one of them?”

“The Norwegian”, Iceland replied, “he came for a surprise visit yesterday and found out about few things I had lied about.” The humans shared some worried and awkward glances, but finally Julia spoke up again. She was much better with dealing with the situations so the guys happily let her to take the reins. 

“I’m sure he will understand”, she said, “I always fight with my brothers too.”

“But he is not only my brother”, Iceland said sadly and sighed, “he practically raised me, and he was so angry yesterday.”

“But he is family, right?” Julia asked and Iceland nodded, “so he will forgive you. Family always forgives.” Iceland thought about it for a moment and the nodded slightly. They have been living over thousands years so this wasn’t exactly the first time when they got angry at each other; it was just the first time when it was Iceland’s fault. He remembered the one time when Denmark pissed off Norway so badly that the Norwegian nation had hided to the fjords and refused to speak with the Dane for a whole year. Swede had been forced to deliver messages between them and then they both had got angry at him because he called them drama queens. Iceland chuckled for that memory.

“You got him feel better”, Tomas cheered with a smile, “but honestly, I was so sure you were lying about the brothers but then Julia told us she actually met one. I was so surprised!”

“Why would I pretend to have brothers?”

“Dunno”, Tomas said with a shrug. Iceland sighed and opened his phone. It took him a moment to find a group photo where they were not too official looking or Denmark wasn’t holding Norway’s hand or otherwise looking like there was more than brotherly feelings between them. Finally he found one that was taken about a year ago while they had been attending a meeting in the southern Europe. They had had few free days and Denmark had thought it would be a good idea to get a tan so they went to the beach.

“Here”, Iceland said and showed the photo, “from left to right, Tino, Berwald, Matias and the last on the row is my Norwegian brother.” They were sitting on sand, everybody except Matias covered with a towel to protect their pale skins from the harsh sun. Finland was laughing while Denmark just lay on his back on the sand while Norway and Iceland gave him weird looks. Sweden was only one who was actually looking at the camera. 

“Wow, they don’t look so much like you!”

“Um, I told you we are adopted”, Iceland reminded them.

“But I was sure they might have grown to look like you. Well, okay, this one would be like your copy”, Tomas said and pointed Norway in the photo, “by the way, which kind of hair dye you use? It seems to be pretty good stuff because I have never seen it fading or roots coming up. It looks good even in this photo.” Iceland blinked.

“This is my real hair colour”, he said honestly. Humans stared at him and Carl almost dropped his phone on the floor because of the surprise.

“What?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied with a shrug, “I think I forgot to tell you. I have this disorder that cause silvery hair colour. It’s not dangerous or anything, just my genes messing up a bit.” Iceland was always so happy about modern times when all the weird stuff, like his hair colour, was possible to be passed off as genes fault and nobody would be surprised. Earlier it had been just witchcraft or demons, which both were not really good and had made protecting the Icelander from the public one of the main worries of Denmark and Norway. 

“I had no idea”, Julia said, “Sorry.”

“It’s nothing really”, Iceland replied, “usually I tell about it but it just slipped from my mind this time.”

“I was already wondering why anybody wants to dye their hair silver”, Tomas mumbled, “this explains so much.”

“It also affects my eyes”, Iceland noted, “they look slightly purple if you look carefully.” Barely he had said that when the humans started to look at his eyes, trying to see the strange hint of colour. Iceland felt slightly embarrassed about that but luckily they stopped the observation soon.

“I think I can see it now that you mention it”, Tomas muttered, “hey, I know what will cheer you up! Let’s go to have ice cream!”

“Sorry, maybe next time”, Iceland said quickly before anybody got too excited about it, “I have to talk with my brother. He has probably been preparing his ranting all morning.”

Iceland walked home that afternoon just because he wanted to have a bit more time to prepare himslef. It was a childish thing to do but facing an angry Norwegian wasn’t something he was eager to experience. But when he finally got to the apartment he found it empty. Feeling a bit confused he walked to the kitchen and spotted a note on the fridge’s door. It wasn’t very long so it took only a moment to read.

_ Island, _

_ Come to meet us in Christianborg. Ask them to show you to the meeting room 02.04.  _

 

  * __Norge__



 

_ : )  _

 

  * __Danmark__



 

“Great. He is going to yell at me in public”, Iceland sighed. Denmark knew his schedule so there wasn’t really way that Iceland could stay away any longer. He couldn’t really avoid Norway rest of his life. They had quite long lives and the Norwegian would find him where ever he tried to hide. So Iceland sighed, checked that he had his ID-card with him and walked out.

Because it was an early evening and the weather wasn’t most pleasant one, there wasn’t too many tourists going around. Only a small line led inside into the place that was open for public and few excited people stood in front of the stables. The horses had been taken in already and nobody was training in the arena. Iceland knew where he was going and walked quickly under the red, white crossed flags. He was stopped right after the doors.

“Can I see your ID?” the security man asked and held his hand close to his belt, though he looked calm. Iceland had visited the building often, but the last time had been at least six years ago so he wasn’t exactly frequent visitor.

“Sure”, Iceland said and gave the man the ID-card. It looked like a normal ID-card with a name and all the information of the holder. The extra-ordinary thing was that when the man checked the card with his machine, it gave him a special note. Iceland knew the thing and he wasn’t surprised when the man frowned. 

“I’ll have to verify this”, he said and walked to the side. Iceland calmly waited while the process was going its normal way. The note had declared the Icelander as a special person and instructed the guard to call his supervisor. Iceland had been in this situation so many times that he even knew the code the guard was now saying. Sometime it took a while before the message reached the right person but this time everything happened quite fast and soon Iceland was walking down the hall with a key card hanging on his neck. One of the Denmark’s assistants was already waiting for him.

“Good afternoon, Island”, he said with a bright smile, “meeting with your brothers?”

“Yeah”, Iceland said and tried his best to look friendly, though he didn’t feel like that, “they said to come to room 02.04.”

“Yes, it’s on the second floor. Just walk to the end of the hall and take the elevator”, the man said and tapped his tablet, “I have informed them about your arrival. Have a nice day.”

“You too”, Iceland murmured. Of course the human didn’t know that the Icelander was walking straight to his doom. 

When he found the right door, he knocked and was called in right away. The meeting room 02.04 turned out to be a moderate sized room with a round table and place for seven persons. It had big windows and view out to the courtyard. Most of the rooms had been modernised but there was still some old charm left. 

Norway looked exactly like he belonged there. He was sitting at the end of table and reading something from the laptop. When he heard Iceland stepping in to the room, he closed the device and glanced up with a stern look on his face. Denmark, who was leaning on the wall near the windows, gave the Icelander a smile.

“Don’t worry, Is”, he said, “Nor has calmed down.”

“Hush, Dan”, the Norwegian said, “sit down, Island.” Iceland carefully picked up the seat that was farthest from Norway, and the Norwegian noted his avoiding behaviour. 

“I’ll not bite you”, he said, “but if you prefer to yell over the table, free feel.”

“I’m fine like this”, Iceland mumbled, “I’m sorry, Nore.”

“I know, you told me that yesterday”, the Norwegian replied, “I hope you understand that you have caused me a huge amount of worry with this.”

“Yes.”

“Not even mentioning the fact that your mistrust on me hurts.”

“Nore”, Iceland said and kept his face down, “do you hate me now?” His voice was barely hearable but he didn’t want to repeat the question. He thought Norway could hear him, because the man didn’t ask what he said. He didn’t say anything and every passing moment made Iceland felt worse. He was already planning on leaving but then Norway finally replied.

“I carried you on my arms when you were kid”, the man said, “I kept you safe for centuries and taught you all I know, do you really think I can hate you? I’m angry and disappointed on you, but I’ll never stop loving you, Island. That is why I almost torn my own country apart when I worried about you.” Iceland didn’t know what he should say so he didn’t say anything. He felt the Norwegian observing him, but he didn’t dare to look up.

“I spoke with Danmark and he had put a word for you”, Norway continued, “I agree with him that this is your own business and I don’t mind about the fact that you’re studying, though I have to admit that I wonder what made you choose a Danish university when there are few good Norwegian ones available.” Norway’s voice had a slightly lighter tone now and so Iceland finally looked up to him. 

“My boss decided about it”, he muttered.

“I’ll have a talk with your boss too”, Norway promised. He was going to continue, but Denmark interrupted.

“Come on, stop being so depressing”, the Dane said and grinned, “tell him the best news, Nor!”

“Best news?” Iceland asked because it didn’t sound really good.

“Yes”, Norway said and smirked lightly, “I’m going to move in.”

“What?”

“I’m moving in”, the Norwegian repeated, “you think I’ll miss this possibility to see you daily and let only Dan to enjoy it?” Iceland sighed loudly.

“But there is only two rooms in the apartment”, he argued. Norway gave him a look and simply turned to the Dane.

“Dan, can I share the room with you?” he asked.

“Of course!”

“See?” Norway said when glancing at the Icelander again, “did you think I slept on couch last night?”

“Can you really leave your country and just move here?” Iceland asked and ignored the Norwegian’s question. This time Norway took his phone and tapped it few times before holding it on his ear.

“Hey, it is me”, he said with his melodic Norwegian, “I have decided to move to Denmark for a while. No, this has nothing to do with our foreign policy. I only wish to spend a bit more time with my family. Yes. Thank you for understanding. Bye.” He closed the phone and placed it next to his laptop before smirking. 

“This is unfair”, Iceland said.

“Well, take it as a punishment then”, Norway replied calmly, “little brother.” Iceland sighed, but he felt a bit better now when Norway was actually attempting to joke. It would take a while before the Icelander would stop feeling guilty but at least he didn’t plan escaping anymore. 

“This is the best day ever”, Denmark declared and almost danced over the room simply because he was feeling so happy.

“Are you sure?” Iceland asked because he couldn’t rate that day even in his top ten. 

“Yeah!” the Dane said, “finally you both are living with me again! Maybe it’ll be only for a year or so but we should still celebrate.” Iceland glanced at his brother and found the man looking at the Dane with a small, gentle smile on his lips. Denmark’s happiness really seemed to rub off to him even if most of people thought it wasn’t possible for the Norwegian to feel any positive feelings. 

“Sure”, Norway said, “dinner?”

“Already one step ahead”, the Dane said and winked, “our reservation is in one hour.”

“Good”, the Norwegian said and got up, “better to get going then. Is, do you need to do anything before dinner?”

“No, I’m free”, Iceland muttered.

“I still need to talk with you more”, Norway noted.

“Oh?”

“I haven’t yet heard anything about your studies”, the man said, “and Dan mentioned this very interesting organization called Íslenska leyniþjónustan. I’m rather curious about it.”

“Of course”, Iceland muttered, “I’ll tell you all I know.”

“It’s okay to have some secrets too”, Norway said with a small smirk, “but next time, just don’t make me think you are dying or seriously hurt.” 

“You were thinking that?” Iceland asked and followed his brother.

“I was panicking and worried”, Norway replied, “there were lot of horrible scenarios and possibilities going around my mind.”

“I’m sorry”, Iceland muttered once again. Norway didn’t reply but he reached his hand to pat the younger nation’s hair. Denmark was walking behind them and being so happy that it strangely radiated around him. He would have brightened up even the grumpiest person and that was why Norway and Iceland both were acting more normally when they went down to the lobby. There were few people working or just standing around there. Denmark went to one of them to inform about him leaving the building. Meanwhile Iceland pretty much only looked around. It wasn’t too hard to spot the people who knew about the personifications and who did not. There was this specific way how they looked at them when they knew. It was like a mix of unbelieve, confusion and sometime proudness or happiness. Few times Iceland had seen even jealous but often that kind of humans either realized that an immortal life was nothing to be envy about, or their memories were altered and they were given something else to do. The nations didn’t have a possibility to take any risks.

When Denmark was ready with his explanation about why he was escaping the work, he led the other nations out. Norway casually asked where they were going, but Denmark simply replied that it was a surprise and only a biking distance away. Of course Norway and Iceland didn’t have bikes with them so they walked while Denmark cycled annoyingly slowly next to them. Iceland was sure he would get over run, especially because he didn’t bother to look around and focused more on talking about things, but apparently the Dane knew what he was doing because they arrived to the restaurant without any Danes lost during the process. 

Denmark had picked up one of the smaller restaurants that were located on less popular side of Copenhagen. There were no so many tourists around and most of customers seemed to speak Danish so the place was apparently popular among the locals. The good thing was also the fact that it wasn’t crowed and nations could have a quiet table at the corner. Denmark smiled brightly and started to read the menu while Norway carefully observed the environment and Iceland decided he would just say he was going to take same than the Norwegian. All the stress and poorly slept night was now coming back to him and he felt too tired to think about what he wanted to eat.

“Are you okay?” Norway asked immediately when he saw the Icelander yawning. 

“Yeah”, the younger nation replied, “just a bit tired. Pick up something good because I’m going to have that same.” Norway glanced at the menu and nodded.

“Salmon”, he said.

“I’m not even surprised”

“I would be slightly worried if you were”, Norway noted, “after all, it had been few centuries. You should know my habits by now.”

“Not everybody is a stalker”, Iceland muttered, “like you.” Norway snorted and focused on deciding what he wanted to drink. Denmark had already made up his mind and was smiling at the other nations. He was happy that Iceland and Norway were acting like normal again. The Dane hated it when his family had disagreements or fights, though for some reason that didn’t stop him picking up fights with Sweden or occasionally annoying them all. He felt much better when he saw Iceland not acting like Norway was scariest thing in the world, or the Norwegian not being constantly worried. 

“So, Island”, Norway said after the waitress had taken their orders, “what exactly you are studying?” 

“I thought you would have asked that already from Dan”, Iceland muttered and Norway nodded.

“I did”, he said and glanced at the Dane who gave back a small smile, “but apparently he was so excited about the fact that you are living with him that he completely forgot to ask what you are actually doing.”

“Heh”, Denmark mumbled, “sometime things just slip off my mind.” Iceland frowned but after a brief thinking he had to admit that the topic had never come up while he had spent time with the Dane. Of course the man had always asked how the class was or if anything interesting had happened but Iceland have never really told him in what field he was. 

“Law”, he said, “I study law.”

“Good choice”, Norway noted, “I studied economy.” Iceland almost choked on the sip of water he had just taken and Denmark had to pat his back few times. 

“You  _ studied?” _ he asked with a shocked voice. 

“Yes, and I see that you were not aware of that”, the Norwegian said and turned to look at the Dane, “you have been very forgetful lately, haven’t you?”

“Maybe a bit”, Denmark admitted while Iceland tried to get over the shock. He had been so sure he was the only one, but if others had been in the school too, then he had just made a fool of himself. 

“Well, Is, this is what you get when you don’t talk with us”, Norway noted and sounded far too amused so the Icelander gave him a bad look. It didn’t seem to affect the Norwegian at all.

“Did all of you study something?” he asked and for his disappointment, both nations nodded. 

“I have Ph.D. from economics”, the Norwegian said, “and I believe Sve has been studying political science.”

“Yeah, he always does so boring things”, Denmark said with a grin, “political science? Can you believe it, a nation studying political science?”

“Well, he said it was nice and easy program”, Norway said with a shrug, “but I have to admit that not really creative choice.”

“At least Fin did better”, the Dane noted.

“What he studied?” Iceland asked when the older nations just keep commenting other’s choices without really stating what those were. 

“It was something with computers”, Denmark said, “IT-programming?”

“Yes, that is his latest”, Norway said, “but he first studied forestry and numerous different languages.”

“Languages?” Iceland asked, “why he needs to study languages?” Usually they didn’t even bother actually studying languages because their nationhood skills made them learn those fast just by listening, reading and using some time to get the pronouncing right. 

“He says it’s a hobby”, Norway shrugged, “so far that I know he had been taking so many Swedish lessons that he probably speaks it better than Sverige himself.” 

“He is so weird”, Denmark muttered and others nodded.

“What about you?” Iceland muttered and glanced at the Dane, “did you study something too?”

“Hell yeah I did!” Denmark declared happily and Norway snorted. 

“This idiot here”, he said and lovingly tugged the Dane’s hair, “has five bachelor degrees, eight masters and three Ph.D degrees including one post-doctorate, was that right?”

“Yep”, Denmark said and nodded. Iceland simply stared at him and it took a good five minutes with some almost comical closing and opening mouth before he could say anything.

“ _ You  _ have been in university?” he asked and then turned to the Norwegian, “ _ he?” _

“I’m aware of the absurdness of that, but he did”, Norway said while Denmark laughed. Their food was brought to the table just then so they had to wait a bit before continuing their discussion. Iceland didn’t even note his meal before going for another question.

“Why?” he asked.

“For fun”, Denmark shrugged, “I was curious so I learnt everything I could. I was even in the first class ever graduated from University of Copenhagen.”

“Why I didn’t know about this?” the Icelander asked and frowned. Maybe he was a bit isolated but he had thought he knew at least what his family was doing.

“I think it just never came up”, Norway replied, “if I recall right, Dan did most of the studies either during the time when you were very small or after wars.”

“True”, Denmark nodded, “I was too busy during the time when it was only Is and me living in my house and before that you were always more after Norge than me. It wasn’t really hard to study on the side.”

“I don’t know why I feel slightly betrayed”, Iceland muttered, “you probably know the university much better than I do.”

“Dunno”, Denmark said with a shrug, “I can’t go there anymore. They got a restraining order against me in 1983.”

“What?”

“Yeah”, the Dane nodded, “it pissed them off that I studied so much so when they figured out it was me all the time, they banned me. I can’t step in their buildings without getting dragged out and fined. It’s a bit humiliating.” 

“Really?”

“It’s true”, Norway said, “I saw the letter and he complains about it because now he can’t go to meet you at the campus.”

“That’s good. I don’t need anybody watching me when I try to study”, Iceland muttered, “but you really got restrain order from your own university in your own capital?” Denmark nodded sadly and took a sip from his beer before replying.

“The one in Aarhus have banned me too”, he admitted, “but I’m still free to go to Aalborg!” 

“Until they will realize it is you and set the ban too”, Norway muttered, “maybe you should calm down a bit with studying everything in the world?”

“Yeah, but I’m hoping that people will forget about such things in a century or so”, the Dane said hopefully, “then I can just enrol again.” 

“Of course”, Norway said and shook his head slightly with an amused look on his face, “Is, do you want to eat your food or just wait it to become cold?”

“Oh”, Iceland said and realized that others were almost ready with their meals. He picked up the fork and started to eat. The salmon was delicious and potatoes and vegetables with it well spiced and tasty. Denmark really knew how to pick up good restaurants. 

“I have to admit that the story how you tried to keep your studies secret from us, and especially Danmark, amuses me”, Norway noted after a while, “I wasn’t aware about your secret service.”

“I wasn’t either”, Iceland admitted. He guessed Denmark had explained to the Norwegian how he had found out about Iceland hanging out in his land. 

“I had fun with them”, the Dane said.

“Poor guys”, Norway sighed, “I hope you didn’t make them work too much, Is.”

“I think they are fine”, Iceland replied with a shrug, “I haven’t heard from them for a while but I think Puffin works for them.”

“Your speaking pet bird?” Denmark asked with surprise, “how he managed that?”

“I have no idea. I always forget to ask about it when I see him”, Iceland said with a shrug, “I think they have no idea that he is a bird.”

“Possible”, Norway muttered, “it seems to be quite easy to believe in immortal personifications but most of people have difficulties to admit that trolls and some speaking animals exist.” 

“They are so weird”, Denmark noted, “hey! I haven’t showed you the letter yet.” Denmark dropped his fork and knife on the plate and started to search for the letter in his bag. When he found the slightly worn envelope, he gave it to Norway.

“Is that the one you got when I changed my address in the register?” Iceland asked.

“Jep!”

“Why you are keeping it with you?”

“Because it is so sweet and thoughtful”, the Dane explained, “really warms my heart and makes me think I’m a good guardian every time I read it.” Iceland snorted but Norway was focusing on the letter and reading with his normal emotionless look on his face. It changed soon to a small smile and his eyes softened.

“It is really sweet letter, indeed”, he said and gave it back to the Dane, “can I have a copy?”

“Sure, I’ll take it tomorrow.”

“Hey!” Iceland protested, “you are not even my guardians. I have been living by own for over sixty years.” Denmark and Norway gave him almost identical smirks.

“But we were your guardians”, Norway said, “and Dan promised that if he marks himself as your father next time when we will have to renew our information in the register, he will mark me as so too.” 

“If you do that, I’ll never again visit your land”, Iceland muttered.

“He will make good son”, Denmark noted, “he is already having the rebellious phase.”

“You are my big brothers, not fathers”, Iceland said with a slightly bored voice and stuffed some food in his mouth. Norway gasped a bit, but it was so small noise that the Icelander almost missed it.

“He said it!” Denmark cheered and high fived the Norwegian who looked extremely satisfied. Iceland gave them a suspicious glance.

“Did you really just trick me to say it?” he asked and the nation’s nodded, “if you do that again, I’ll go to have an exchange year and move in with Finland.”

“Okay”, Denmark said with wide smile and nod, “anybody wants dessert?” Iceland sighed and Norway gave him a small smile.

“Don’t worry, Is”, he said, “I’ll keep the Dane away when you need to study. We will also help you so you’ll be fine.” Iceland sighed again but didn’t bother to tell them that he wasn’t sure if his studies would be any easier after this. 


	9. Higher confusion

“Morning”, Iceland muttered when he stepped out of his room and found his Norwegian and Danish “flatmates” standing in the kitchen. They had been talking with low voices but when they saw the Icelander, they dropped the topic and focused on him.

“Going to the class?” Norway asked casually and sipped his coffee.

“Yeah”, Iceland replied, “we have a quest lecture today. Can’t miss that.”

“Cool”, Denmark said with a way too bright smile for such early morning. Iceland grunted and took an apple form the basket before going to fridge to get his lunch bag. For his surprise he saw two brown paper bags instead of the usual one. The older nations saw him stopping in mid-move and they guessed easily what had made him so confused.

“The one with a smiley face is for you”, Norway said, “Dan thinks you need something positive for your school day.”

“Ah”, Iceland replied and grabbed the right bag, “whose this another one is? It has a heart… Oh, never mind. I can guess.” 

“Yes, it’s mine”, Norway said. Denmark smile widened a bit, though that should have been impossible. Iceland glanced at them and noted the way how Norway slightly leaned on the Dane and Denmark was giving the man a soft look. 

“So you too have fallen under the care of the great Danish nation?” the Icelander asked and Norway snorted.

“Well, he makes good sandwiches”, the man said and Denmark nodded. 

“I love you too”, he said.

“Thank you for informing me about that”, Norway replied and Denmark laughed softly. He leaned to kiss the Norwegian and that was the moment when Iceland decided that the situation was getting too much and it was time for him to leave. 

“Bye!” he yelled from the door and was gone. Norway chuckled at his brother’s quick escape and glanced at the Dane.

“Should we get to work too?” he asked. Since he wasn’t going to his own land every day, Denmark had more than happily gave the Norwegian a permission to use his office. But still the Dane wasn’t hurrying to start his day. Instead he hugged the man and rubbed his cheek against soft hair.

“I prefer to be just here”, he said.

“Dan, the future of our people is literally our responsibility”, Norway said, but didn’t move away, “we have to go.”

“Well, at least I can have a work place romance with you”, the Dane said and grinned. 

“You are hopeless”, Norway muttered, but he had a small smirk on his lips and he didn’t push the man away.

Despite of being worried about it, Iceland found out that Norway didn’t make his life any worse. Actually the man even kept his word and when the exam weeks started again, the only thing Iceland needed to do was to hint his brother that he had to study. Just few words and the whole apartment was empty and quiet for him. Iceland wouldn’t even see Denmark and Norway until next morning. Norway rarely was the one to suggest the dates and he often let the Dane to take care about that. Still he liked to spend time with the man and Iceland’s studies gave him a perfect excuse to ask Denmark out without really asking him out. At the end Iceland only needed to open his month and Norway was already leaving with the Dane. Iceland found that amusing, especially because Denmark didn’t seem to make the connection between Iceland’s studies and Norway’s sudden interest on date evenings. Or maybe the man just pretended he didn’t know. Iceland had learnt lately that the Dane was surprising good with pretending he didn’t know about things.

His studies were also going well, just as his country was surviving without him being constantly watching over the business. The exam weeks were coming again and this time his boss had promised completely free from the work during that time. Iceland was happy about it because he feared what Norway and Denmark would do if they saw him too exhausted. They were ex-Vikings after all. 

Just when Iceland was making his way to the class, he heard hurrying steps behind him. First he didn’t really note it because it was rare anybody was seeking contact with him, if his three classmates were not counted. That was also the reason why he startled when a hand suddenly touched his shoulder.

“Sorry”, Carl said right away after noticing the nation’s surprised look, “I just want to speak with you about…um. Something.”

“Something?” Iceland asked.

“Yeah, well”, Carl said and looked extremely uncomfortable, “do you have a moment?” Iceland didn’t have any idea what he wanted from him, but it was still half an hour until the class would start. It didn’t hurt to hear the guy out.

“Sure”, he murmured and followed his classmate on the side where they would not be blocking the way from other students going to where ever students were going. Iceland patiently waited that Carl got over of whatever embarrassment he was feeling. It took a few minutes.

“Erik, you know”, he said and tried to find the right words, “I just wanted to ask some advice from you.”

“From me?” Iceland asked and raised his brown, “which kind of?”

“You know… Julia…”

“Yeah, I know her”, Iceland replied and observed the frustrated young man. He didn’t really understand how but there was something very familiar in the way how he was acting. It was familiar but strange at the same time. 

“I was wondering if she had ever mentioned anything about”, Carl mumbled with barely hearable voice, “having a boyfriend or… stuff.” Suddenly it all made sense and Iceland stared at the man.

“Are you asking dating advice?” he asked with a slightly shocked voice, “from me?” Carl blinked few times and nodded slowly.

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t Tomas better with this kind of stuff?”

“He would not keep it to himself”, Carl said, “you know, he says out loud everything what is in his mind. I would like to ask Julia out by myself, not to have Tomas blurting it out during the lecture or something.”

“Yeah, that’s true”, Iceland said and stroked his hair, “well, I’m not really expert with this but I haven’t heard about her dating anybody.” Actually Iceland didn’t know much about her at all. Even her nationality was still a mystery for him. 

“Okay, that’s good”, Carl said and sounded relieved, “do you happen to know anything about, you know, how to ask girls out?”

“No”, Iceland said with a serious voice, “not really.”

“You sure?” the human asked with a surprised voice, “you have so many brothers. Haven’t any of them…?”

“They are all gays.”

“What?”

“They like males”, Iceland said calmly, “I thought that is a common term for that.”

“No, I mean”, Carl said and sounded clearly confused, “all of them?”

“Yep”, Iceland nodded. 

“So”, the human said slowly, “it runs in the family then?”

“We are adopted, remember?” Iceland said, “and that kind of stuff is not inheritable.” 

“Yeah true”, Carl said and sounded a bit ashamed, “but hey, you said one of your brothers is married!”

“Berwald married Tino, yeah”, Iceland admitted. After all, he had to take care he stayed with his cover story. He had already told those two everything and, though they had been worried too, they took it much better than Norway. Finland even found the whole situation amusing and Sweden seemed to be more and less secretly approving the fact that Iceland had claimed Denmark and Norway being brothers.  

“So, how they ended up together?” Carl asked hopefully. Iceland didn’t reply right away because he didn’t really know what to say. He has been very young when Finland and Sweden had ended up living in same house and he hasn’t really seen how their relationship grew because most of time he had been in completely another place. He of course knew the story. Finland had told him once. 

“They met one day long time ago”, Iceland said because he felt like he should help the human a bit, “Tino didn’t like Berwald first. He was a bit bossy and hard to understand. But because of some misunderstanding, they ended up sharing a house. I wasn’t hanging out there much during that time but apparently they became friends after a while and that turned to love later.”

“Sounds nice”, Carl murmured. He seemed to be still unsure and Iceland felt bad for him. The nation wasn’t sure if he should call him a friend. Being friends with humans was always risky as they died so much sooner than the nations and there were so many secrets. But even if Iceland wanted to keep the distance, it didn’t hurt to help just a bit more.

“You know”, he said and gave the human a smile, “I think you should just go and ask her out. Waiting is not gonna help at all and life is too short for that. Trust me, I know.” Carl thought about it for a while, but then his nervous look changed something a bit more determined and he nodded.

“You are right”, he said, “I’ll ask her out. Thank you, Erik. Wish me luck!”

“Good luck”, Iceland said and Carl laughed. They walked in the class together and quietly the nation wondered how it would feel to be a human. Their time was so limited when comparing to his and still it seemed like they were sometime almost afraid to live. Iceland shook his head and decided to ask about it from Denmark later. The Dane was much better when it came to understand humans. 

Despite of his deep thoughts, Iceland forgot to ask Denmark about human behaviour because suddenly the exams were there and only thing he could think about was the materials and cases he had been working with. Norway and Denmark were very understanding and they kept away, only leaving food and snacks for the Icelander. They were a bit worried too because Iceland had got very sick after last exams, and that was why they sometime sneaked in his room when he was sleeping to just check that he wasn’t getting fever or sleeping restless. Iceland heard their lowered, murmuring voices few times but he didn’t bother to wake up to ask what they think they were doing. 

It was in the last day of exams when Tomas suddenly ran to him and almost collapsed down because of his excitement. 

“Have you heard?” he asked and proceeded to shook the poor and confused Icelander.

“Heard what?” Iceland asked back without understanding why the human suddenly wanted to manhandle him like this.

“They are together!” Tomas declared without really answering to the question, “this is cutest thing ever!”

“I don’t understand”, Iceland admitted, “can you stop shaking me? I’m getting dizzy.”

“Oh, sorry”, Tomas said and took his hands off from the nation, “Julia and Carl. They are going to date tomorrow.”

“That’s great”, the nation replied.

“Great? Great!” Tomas said and pretended to be shocked, “this is awesome! I knew they gonna get together. My wife owns me now ten euros, hah!”

“You are married?” Iceland asked and raised his brown. He wasn’t sure in which age humans usually married but he thought it would have been a bit later. Tomas couldn’t be more than 26 years old. Iceland wondered if he should really take a closer look on modern human habits because it sounded like he was missing something. 

“Yeah”, Tomas said and grinned, “happily married for second year row now. Her name is Anneke.” 

“Congrats”, Iceland mumbled and wondered if he should have been a bit more active with small talk. He still didn’t know where Julia and Carl came from and Tomas’ nationality had been revealed only by an accident. 

“Well, that reminds me that I should call her and tell the news”, Tomas said with cheerful tone, “see you later, Erik!” 

“See you”, Iceland replied but the Dutch guy was already gone. The nation didn’t have time to look after him because he still had one exam to do. It was from the course where none of his three international classmates were in so Iceland expected to be left alone. He was right until the exam was over and he stepped out of the building. After few meters two persons appeared on his sides like extra shadows following his every movement. 

“Good afternoon, Ísland”, the woman said with fluent Icelandic and the nation recognized her voice.

“Hey, Kristfríður”, he said and glanced at the man on his left side, “and you are?”

“Jöfur Loðmundurson” the man replied, “it’s an honour to meet you, my nation.” When he heard the name, he remembered Denmark saying that another agent was called that. The man was clearly an Icelander, just like his colleague, and they both were wearing similar black clothes and sunglasses. If that already didn’t say clearly enough that they were agents, the way how they looked around and walked with trained movements definitely told everything. Even Kristfríður, who had been so nervous when Iceland saw her first time, was now acting with determination. Following Denmark around had definitely been good training for her. 

“You are welcome”, Iceland muttered, “you wanted something?”

“Yes”, the woman replied, “we have been ordered to pick you up for a meeting.” Iceland glanced around and, though he was still walking by his own, it weirdly felt like the agents were leading him. He knew they were his people but the situation wasn’t the most comfortable. 

“I wasn’t aware I’m having a meeting?” he said with similar way that Norway used when he was getting disappointed, “this feels more like kidnapping.”

“We will not kidnap our own nation”, Jöfur declared, “this is simply a meeting you didn’t know about beforehand. If you don’t want to come now, you can simply walk away and we will not stop you.”

“Oh”, Iceland said, “that sounds much better. Nore does awful things for people who kidnap me.” The agents flinched a bit and Iceland wondered if his boss had told them any scary stories about the Norwegian nation. Because of the years of terror, or as Norway called it “taking care of Iceland”, there were some rumours and stories going around Icelandic parliament and most of them seemed to think that the Norwegian nation was a troll who enjoyed scaring people. Iceland thought they were right and he was sure Norway would find all those stories highly amusing. 

“So, are you willing to come for the meeting?” the woman asked.

“Sure, I have nothing better to do”, Iceland said, “just let me call Dan that he knows I’m not coming home right now. Who am I going to meet anyway?”

“Agent Puffin”, Jöfur said, “he wishes to speak with you.”

“Perfect”, Iceland muttered. He had a few things to tell that bird too.


	10. Higher mess

Apparently the whole meeting was part of some weird high secret mission because it took almost an hour and one strange trip with a car before Iceland arrived to an old office building with the agents. The nation looked around and tried to figure out exactly where they were, but the humans seemed to be familiar with the place because they didn’t bother to see around. They just walked inside without using a single moment to tell the nation what place it was. Iceland shrugged and decided not to ask. He was quite sure he was still somewhere in Copenhagen, maybe in the suburb parts, and so long that he was at least somewhere in the Nordic, he would need to do only a single phone call to find his way back to home. 

The agents didn’t say anything, only leaded the nation to almost empty room. It seemed that the place was rarely used, or it had been emptied for this day, but that wasn’t the reason why Iceland was surprised when he stepped in. He was more confused about the fact that the familiar puffin was sitting there like nothing was wrong. Iceland gave him a questioning look and glanced at the humans to see if they looked surprised. They didn’t.

“Good, he is going to arrive soon”, Kristfríður said after noticing the bird.

“Arrive?” Iceland asked, because in his point of view agent Puffin was already there. Of course for somebody else every single puffin looked same but Iceland saw the difference and he knew that it was too big coincidence that his puffin just happened to be there. 

“Yes”, the woman said with a nod and without noticing the suspicious look the nation was giving to the bird, “his security level is so high that we normal agents are not allowed to meet him. He uses this trained puffin to deliver messages and inform us about his situation.” Iceland glanced at the puffin again and held back a sigh. It seemed that his puffin had been doing some business behind his back. Somehow he wasn’t even surprised. 

“We will wait you outside”, Jöfur said and they both simply turned and walked away. Iceland didn’t speak until he heard the metal door closing after the humans.

“So agent Puffin, huh?” the nation asked and raised his brow, “does anybody know you are a bird?”

“Hell no”, the bird replied and laughed in his weird way, “I am the great agent Puffin! Nobody knows my true identity.”

“Except me”, Iceland noted and the bird gave him a sharp look.

“Yeah, usually I should kill everybody who finds out”, he said, “but you will just fucking pop up again and your brothers are freaking scary so I don’t bother. You may live.”

“I feel so loved”, Iceland muttered, but he had already got used for his bird’s harsh attitude so he didn’t mind, “is my home still okay?”

“Your home? Your home!” Puffin yelled and raised his wings, “Icey boy, we haven’t met for weeks and first thing you ask is about your home!”

“So you wrecked it.”

“Not really”, Puffin said, “but just out of curiosity, how many new windows you can afford?” 

“What have you done?”

“I said ‘just out of curiosity’!” the bird yelled, “come on, stop blaming others. They don’t like it.”

“Okay”, Iceland sighed, “I can’t really afford any.”

“Too bad for you then”, the bird said but refused to explain more. Iceland knew that it would be useless to ask more from the stubborn Puffin so he only sighed and changed the topic.

“So did you have any real reasons for this meeting?” he asked.

“I had”, the bird said and nodded.

“So?”

“You know, Icey boy”, Puffin said and took few steps around on the table he was standing on, “your boss realized that you haven’t pick up your last courses yet.” Iceland knew what the bird meant. He had picked up the mandatory courses from the list a long time ago but additionally there were the last 15 credits he should use for elective courses. So far he hadn’t been interested enough to take a look in course catalogue. 

“So what?” Iceland said.

“Well, he had an idea and so here I am! Telling you that idea”, the bird said and laughed again. Iceland grimaced because honestly, last time when his boss had an idea it hadn’t been good for the nation. Or well, the actual nation was doing okay but the personification wasn’t so sure about himself. 

“What kind of idea?” Iceland asked because it was probably best just to face it than try to escape, “and why he is not here himself?” 

“He is busy”, Puffin said with a nod.

“With what?”

“Work”, the bird simply said, “you know. All the important business and things you are not doing currently. Making trades, trying to ban pineapple pizzas and leading the people. Boring stuff, you know.”

“Okay, I got it”, Iceland muttered, “can you now tell me what that idea was?”

“Oh yeah”, Puffin said, “you should do 15 credits in practice.”

“Practice? What you mean?” Iceland asked because he wasn’t really following. Did they want him to do something else now? Wasn’t studying already enough?

“It means that you go to place where people work, creepily follow them around and figure out how they do stuff”, the bird explained, “come on, Icey boy, you are smart enough for this.”

“I know what practice means!” Iceland said almost angrily but calmed himself quickly, “but what it means exactly in this case?”

“It still means that you gotta go and see how people work.”

“Puffin!”

“Hah, okay”, the bird laughed, “the deal is this, you work with your crazy brothers for two months and you get 15 credits. Nice, right?”

“No, no”, Iceland said quickly and even took a step back, “I’m not going to do that!” It was already enough that he was living with them and they were almost constantly keeping him on eye in case the stress became too much. He was not going to be also supervised by them during a work.

“Come on, think the good sides”, the bird said, “it will be an easy job, like same stuff you have been doing forever, and you don’t need to go to boring classes. You said you hate classes!” Iceland had to admit that it was right. He had complained about those during the couple of times he had visited his country for the past few months. Also, it wasn’t like his brothers hadn’t been teaching him before. They had been using centuries to make sure that Iceland grew up to be a good nation. 

“Okay”, Iceland sighed, “but why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Puffin asked, “they sent you to that freaking school so you will learn stuff or something. What would be better than learn the nation stuff from older nations?” 

“I am a real nation too”, Iceland reminded him.

“Yeah sure you are”, Puffin said, “but just think about it. How much is your population?”

“About 330 000”, Iceland said automatically.

“So, who is next smallest Nordic? Norway?”

“Yeah.”

“How much people he has?”

“It’s around 5,3 million”, Iceland replied with a shrug.

“So, you see”, puffin said, “you are  _ tiny.  _ Tiny and  _ cute.” _

“Stop that!” the Icelander ordered because the tone the bird was using wasn’t really nice. Like normally, the puffin only laughed at the nation’s command. 

“You gotta go to them and learn stuff”, he said with challenging tone, “just do it.”

“But they have been training me for years”, the Icelander argued, “what more they can show me?”

“Dunno”, the bird said, “but it had been like hundred years when you had a lesson with them last time. World has changed, Icey boy, and you should try to hold on.” Iceland crossed his arms and, though he wasn’t really happy, he had to admit that there was some truth in the bird’s words. After a brief, stubborn silence, he nodded.

“I’ll think about it”, he promised and gave the puffin a suspicious glance, “why you are on their side?”

“Pffft, I don’t take sides!” the bird declared, “I’m just helping you out.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, I’m your fairy godmother or some shit like that”, the bird said and moved its wings few times, “so, anything new happened?” 

They ended up exchanging the news for few hours more and, though Iceland often threated to eat the foulmouthed bird, he realized that actually he had missed Puffin’s company. It was weird to listen to a bird that could somehow talk and had been alive far longer than birds were supposed to be able to live, but as an immortal personification, Iceland couldn’t really say what was weird and what was not. When he finally glanced at the clock and realized that it was already late, he remembered that those two agents were still waiting for him to finish the meeting. With few last words he wished Puffin nice fly back to Reykjavik, and left.

Kristfríður and Jöfur both told him that they hadn’t mind the long wait. They had simply played card and listened some music, and they were anywhere used for waiting during their missions. Iceland had a bad feeling that following the Danish nation had made them become so patient but he didn’t dare to ask any details. 

They drove him back to home and wished good night with smiles. When they were gone, Iceland realized that he felt slightly upset. It took him a while to figure out that the feeling came simply from the fact that he missed his people. Danes were not too different but they didn’t act or talk like Icelanders and Iceland missed it. He missed the feeling of familiar words in his mouth and people he knew. It was more natural to speak Danish in Denmark’s land and with his classmates he always spoke in English so there hadn’t been many chances to speak his own language. While he climbed the stairs up, he wondered if Norway and Denmark would be willing to speak Icelandic with him. He knew they were fluent, though they both had slightly old fashioned way to speak it. 

It was already well past midnight so Iceland tried to be quiet with stepping in the apartment. He had informed his brother and Denmark about the meeting so they hadn’t try to contact him, but still Iceland wasn’t surprised to see their bed room’s door open. They usually always closed it and, though lights were switched off and there was no noise telling that the nations were awake, Iceland knew that at least one troll was watching over the apartment and probably had orders to wake up the Norwegian whenever the Icelander showed up. 

Iceland walked quietly around and stopped for a moment to look at the older nations. There wasn’t much light but they had left curtains open and the light coming outside was enough to see the sleeping figures. They both looked calm and Denmark was lying on his belly while Norway slept on his side. They were not too close to each other, the room was too warm to sleep skin to skin, but the Norwegian had reached his hand for the Dane and held it on his back. It looked like he was unconsciously making sure that the man wouldn’t go anywhere while he slept. Iceland was just turning around to go to his own room when he noticed that Norway had opened his eyes and was staring at him. 

“Welcome to home”, the man whispered and moved a bit so he could see the Icelander better over the Dane, “was the meeting about anything important?” Iceland sighed, but he knew Norway wouldn’t wait until the morning. So he gave up about going sleeping right away and stepped in the room. 

“Puffin was bringing some news”, he said and sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the bed frame, “Nore, can I ask something from you?” The Norwegian frowned, but nodded and moved a bit so he was half lying on the Dane’s back. Denmark didn’t seem to care about that because he stirred only a bit and rubbed his cheek against the pillow. 

“You can always ask anything you want”, the Norwegian said.

“Okay”, Iceland said and hesitated just a moment, “can you speak Icelandic for me?” Norway didn’t seem to be surprised about the question. He only smiled softly and reached his hand to ruffle the Icelander’s hair.

“Of course, brother”, he said with his soft Icelandic, “anything for you. Are you missing home?”

“A bit”, Iceland admitted. It was easy to admit things in middle of night in the darkness.

“That is okay”, Norway replied, “we all miss home sometime.”

“So I have heard”, Iceland murmured. They had been speaking with low voices, but Denmark had still waked up and he yawned a bit when turning to look at the Icelander. 

“Are we speaking Icelandic now?” he asked with a sleepy voice but still switching the language almost automatically. His Icelandic was more accented than Norway’s, but he could still speak it fine. 

“Yes”, Norway simply replied.

“Good”, Denmark mumbled, “everything alright, Is?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied, “my boss just had a new idea.” He saw both nations flinching a bit and suddenly they were both fully focused on Iceland. He could understand the reason for that. After all, having a boss coming up with new ideas hadn’t always been good for the nations and they both had had their share of bad leaders. Of course they knew that Iceland was a democratic nation so they shouldn’t be too worried, but even a slight possibility of problems was too much. 

“Which kind of idea?” Norway asked with a slightly cold and serious voice.

“Relax, it wasn’t anything horrible”, Iceland said, “he just noticed that I haven’t picked up some courses yet and he wanted to suggests that I do those in practice.”

“I see”, the Norwegian said and relaxed again, “which kind of practice?” Iceland hesitated for a moment but because he had already start to talk and so far lying hasn’t take him anywhere, he decided just to get over it at once.

“He said I should do it with you”, he explained, “to learn to be a better nation or so.” The older nations didn’t reply right away but Iceland knew they were thinking about it. 

“I like that idea”, Norway finally replied and Denmark nodded.

“There are still lot of things I didn’t have time to teach you because of that damn war”, the Dane muttered, “you still don’t know how to write a passive-aggressive letter to a Swede.”

“Um, I’m not sure if I need to know that”, Iceland admitted, “and don’t get too excited. I’m still only thinking about it.

“Of course”, Norway said and patted the Dane’s shoulder, “don’t get excited, Dan.”

“But I want to”, Denmark whined, though he sounded like he was going to fall asleep in any moment. Norway chuckled and gave the Icelander a sleepy smile.

“We’ll support you no matter what you decide”, he said, “my little brother.”

“Yeah, thanks”, Iceland muttered. Because both nations looked like they wanted to get back to sleep and Iceland was tired too, he got up from the floor and murmured good night to the men. They replied, still using Icelandic, and Norway rolled on his back while Denmark seemed to just simply fell asleep where he was. Iceland stopped briefly at the door and looked back to the nations who always embarrassed him but also protected and had raised him. He actually cared about them a lot, though he didn’t want to admit that too many times. 

“I love you”, he whispered because he suddenly simply felt like he should say it. They probably didn’t even hear him, the Icelander though and walked to his own room. After he had closed his door, Norway opened his eyes again and turned to look at the Dane next to him.

“Did you hear that?” he asked with un-normally excited voice. Denmark kept his eyes closed, but his smirk was a clear sign of him being still awake.

“Yeah”, he said while Norway pushed his face on the pillow and tried to calm down from the sudden and over-helming brotherly feelings. The Dane laughed softly and patted his back.

“We love him too”, he murmured. Norway replied something but the man’s voice was muted by the pillow so Denmark didn’t really hear what he tried to tell. He could still easily guess, so he simply turned and wrapped his arm over the nation before falling into peaceful dreams. 


	11. Higher decision

Iceland didn’t really care about going anywhere during the week long holiday after exams, so he spent few first days mostly inside and went through all the reports he had got from his land. It was so much paper work that the nation had printed out it all and spread all over the living room in order to be able to get the complete view. Norway misused his system without any shame by quietly sitting in the living room and reading the papers too. After few hours Iceland realized what he was doing.

“Nore?” he asked and gave the Norwegian a long stare.

“Hm?”

“What you think you are doing?” Iceland asked and lowered the monthly economy report he had been reading. Most of it was lying on his lap and he had a note book tugged behind his back in case he needed to take any notes or check the older ones.

“Just checking”, Norway replied without stopping reading.

“Can’t you check your own stuff?” Iceland asked, “or Dan’s?”

“I have done that already”, Norway calmly replied and finally glanced at his brother, “do you want me to stop?” Iceland wanted to say yes, but he had a feeling that it would not make the Norwegian actually stop keeping his business on eye. Also, the papers he was reading were the ones that would be later published in internet and made available for anybody who was curious enough to actually read something that boring. Norway had carefully picked up only the documents that held nothing secret or private so Iceland guessed that he was still respecting the Icelander’s privacy even if he was way too interested about the things.  

“I guess you will do that anyway”, he muttered with a shrug and Norway smirked slightly before focusing on the papers again. He didn’t comment anything or showed any of his thoughts on his face. He only read and after finishing one paper, he picked up another and continued. After while it started really bugging the Icelander but not because he didn’t like the Norwegian spying his business. Actually he was only annoyed by the fact that Norway didn’t say anything. For an hour Iceland managed to keep it inside but then he gave up.

“Nore?”

“Hm?”

“Why you don’t say anything?” he asked. Norway glanced at him but the paper he was holding hided is expression.

“Should I?” he asked back.

“Well, you are reading my papers”, Iceland said and gestured at the pile of papers near the Norwegian, “I’m sure you have noted at least something.”

“Indeed I have”, the Norwegian replied calmly, “pages 14, 21, 36 and 52 has writing mistakes and I have to say that the grammar on this one paragraph is horrible but luckily the conclusion is still understandable.” Iceland gave him a long look but Norway simply replied with a perfect poker face. 

“You are really annoying, you know”, the Icelander said dryly which made the Norwegian chuckle softly. The voice gained Denmark’s attention and curiously the Dane peeked around the corner. He had been cleaning the kitchen, but mostly only because it was raining outside and he was bored. 

“Are you doing something funny?” he asked with a smile and hoping that they were because cleaning the kitchen was a boring task to do.

“Yeah, Nore thinks being annoying is fun”, Iceland replied.

“I think it is fun to see you annoyed”, Denmark claimed and grinned. Iceland stared at the two nations and slowly shook his head.

“I think I understand now why you are together”, he said, “idiots.” Denmark laughed and collapsed on the couch next to the Icelander. He almost knocked some papers on the floor but managed to somehow catch them all and shove on the table.

“We should do something funny”, he declared, “it is a holiday week!”

“It is Island’s holiday week”, Norway corrected him, “you should still work, Dan.”

“But I can have fun too”, the Dane said with a smile, “I know what we should do! Bakken opens tomorrow!”

“I’m not sure if it’s enjoyable to go out to ab amusement park when it’s raining”, Norway replied but it didn’t stop the Dane.

“It will not rain tomorrow”, he promised, “let’s go there!” Norway shrugged and glanced at the Icelander who had dropped the papers on his laps and was yawning. He was getting tired of thinking all the numbers and trying to find anything that was possibly wrong. 

“What you think Is?” the Norwegian man asked, “want to go to Bakken to see how Dan acts like a kid?”

“Sure, whatever”, Iceland replied with a shrug he didn’t want to admit it but sitting inside all day was making him restless and it was usually fun to go out with Norway and Denmark. Especially because Norway would pay everything and that was the excuse Iceland usually used when somebody asked why he hanged out with the older Nordics. No way was he going to admit that it was actually fun to see Denmark getting excited about pretty much anything or listening when Norway suddenly remembered a story or memory from the past and decided to share it. Of course he only went because it benefits him. 

So they went to Bakken and it was fun. Next day they went to the beach, though Norway said multiple times that it was too cold to go to the beach but Denmark wanted to do it they went. It was surprising unusual for Norway to deny anything from the Dane. It often looked like he did that all the time but usually he simply made the Dane reconsider his decision and didn’t try to stop him doing whatever he wanted to do. However nothing was stopping him nagging at the Dane later if it turned out that the ideas had not been so good ones. 

After the beach Denmark was sick, apparently swimming in sea hadn’t been a good idea, so they stayed in and watched movies. Next day the Dane was up and going again, which meant he actually ran when his assistant came over to ask if he was ready to return to work. He didn’t go far, because Norway and Iceland were going to work and happily used his office for that. After Denmark realized that, he showed up and worked through all the stuff he had been putting on side. He was actually really good with his duties and finished them fast with a good quality once he set on doing them. 

Denmark’s office was cramped but somehow they all three still fitted in fine. Iceland had taken a table at the corner so he could have more own place, and Norway and Denmark were sharing the desk. They both had laptops, phones and some notes with them and they were focused on their own work. So far that Iceland knew, Denmark was checking on some new legislation suggestions from the politics in order to give his opinion about them to the parliament, and Norway was preparing a speech he was going to have in two weeks. Iceland was still going through the reports but for a while he stopped and just looked at the older nations. He could remember seeing them working together before too, though this was the first time when laptops or any kind of technology was involved. In Iceland’s memories they sat in candle’s light and wrote letters to their leaders or made plans they could suggest to humans. Few times Iceland had been taken with them to the meetings and there he had often seen Denmark discussing with all the important people while Norway stood behind him and told him with small gestures what he thought about things said during the meeting. Iceland could swear sometime the Norwegian had been also sitting and speaking with others. He guessed it had depended on how the leaders had thought about him. But just like back then, they worked together perfectly.

“Nor, take a look on this”, Denmark said and poked the Norwegian’s side to get his attention. Norway kindly glanced up from his work and turned to look at Denmark’s laptop. After a while he chuckled softly. 

“Sounds like something straight from 1840”, he noted.

“Isn’t it?” Denmark agreed and grinned, “I’m gonna tell that to them. Can I say you agreed with me?”

“If you really want to”, Norway said with a slightly amused look on his face.

“Yeah, it sounds much better if I say you told me so”, the Dane said with a nod, “how your work is going?” 

“It’s good”, Norway said, “I had a similar speech in another meeting a while ago so I’m just adjusting it a bit.”

“Cool”, Denmark said, “wanna read it for me later?”

“Sure, that might help”, the Norwegian agreed.

“It helps me a lot when I read everything to you first!”

“That is because you get your inspiration from weird places and it make you write rather strange speeches”, the Norwegian noted, “like that one you came up with last spring. I still don’t understand what made you use a paper from 16 th as a model and why did you had to write it with Old Danish.”

“It felt like a good idea when I was going around in the archives”, Denmark said with a shrug, “and at the end everybody loved it! They said it had a nice ancient ring on it.”

“Because it was ancient.”

“But still good.”

“I bet they didn’t even understand more than half of it”, Norway noted and smirked, “even I had to stop to think few times when I was listening you reading it.” Denmark didn’t seem to be sad about the critic because he simply smiled and continued being just as cheerful he usually was. 

“Should we have break?” he asked with a smile. 

“I think that would be a good idea”, Norway agreed and glanced at his brother, “Is had been staring at us and doing nothing already for a while.”

“I wasn’t staring”, the Icelander claimed right away and felt slightly embarrassed about his brother noticing it. To show his point, he turned to look at the opposite wall instead. 

“Hey, it is nothing to be shamed about”, Denmark said with a grin, “we are so awesome that everybody stares at us.”

“It also might have something to do with the fact that you are too loud”, Norway noted and started to close up his laptop. Denmark was also collecting his papers so it wouldn’t look like he had abounded his work, and the mess would be a bit better under the control. 

“So why they stare also when I don’t say anything?”

“It is simply because that happens only once in decade”, Norway replied, “they are surprised.”

“And checking if you are still alive”, Iceland muttered and Norway laughed softly. They didn’t bother with taking their stuff with them because nobody would be fool enough to try to take something from Denmark’s office and they didn’t have need for phones or laptops during a break. 

“So, you two are now teaming up against me, huh?” Denmark asked when they walked down the hallway. He tried to pretend to be offended but the laugh in his voice made it impossible for other nations to believe in his hurt look. 

“I believe a correct word would be teamed up”, Norway said slyly, “we did that years ago, right brother?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied.

“Well, in that case I will have to call my allies to help me against you”, Denmark claimed. Some people they passed gave them a weird looks but Iceland was pretty sure that was only because they were still speaking Icelandic instead of Danish. The older nations had just picked it up after Iceland asked them and hadn’t yet switched back to their native languages. It made Iceland feel better though he wasn’t sure if he deserved so kind act from other Nordics. After all he had lied a lot just a while ago. 

“Isn’t Nore like your only ally?” the Icelander asked instead of mentioning anything about the language. 

“I have others too”, Denmark said, “Fin. He will help me.”

“You know that whatever Fin does, Sve will want to get involved”, Norway noted, “which means that your alliance will fail.”

“So you hope”, Denmark said with a grin. They continued their chatting all way to cafeteria and over their break until Norway had to almost run for an online meeting with his boss and Denmark had to continue his work too. Iceland was almost done with his duties for a while so he spent rest of the day mostly just thinking about his decisions. He was afraid that Puffin was right after all.

After several weeks Iceland was again sitting in the class with his classmates. They had just ended the first part of the lecture and were currently patiently waiting that the teacher got the technology working. Iceland had never figured it out but it seemed like when humans passed a certain age, they suddenly lost their ability to work with computers. He wondered if nations had that age too and, if they had, when it would come. Maybe he should start to keep Denmark on eye just in case because he was oldest out of them five. Of course he would do that only because it would be hilarious to see him struggling with YouTube videos, not because he was worried. 

“Hey, have you been thinking about the next year?” Julia suddenly asked, “we have to soon pick up courses for those 15 elective credits.”

“I already decided that I will take the project course we heard about last week”, Tomas said. Iceland didn’t remember hearing about any project course but it was probably only because he rarely went to any extra meetings where they told things like that. 

“I haven’t picked up anything yet”, Claus said, “but I have a list.”

“Gonna get in the same courses with Julia?” Tomas asked innocently. Claus and Julia hadn’t been dating long but it seemed to be going on well. 

“I dunno”, Claus said, “she likes different stuff.”

“And it’s not smart to choice a course only because you like the people there”, Julia continued and rolled her eyes, “what about you, Erik?” Iceland had been thinking about it and more he thought, more he liked the idea of doing the practice Puffin had talked about. He had been following Norway and Denmark few times and for his surprise he had found out that they didn’t do their work like he did. They seemed often base their advices and speeches on something that had happened before. Iceland did that too occasionally but he had simply less experience. He was also surprised to find out that Norway and Denmark, despite of their countries working independently, actually shared some works. Whenever they had complicated cases, they talked about it together and sometime they even switched the work so sometime some of the Denmark’s ideas were actually Norway’s and another way around. Iceland didn’t understand first why they did that but soon he noticed that it was simply because they had their own strength and knowledge. They trusted each other much enough to ask for help. Iceland did that too sometime but usually he waited until the last moment before asking help from anybody because he wanted to show that he could do all alone. He started to feel like there might actually be something Norway and Denmark could yet teach him. Honestly, that thought was scaring him a bit. 

“Yeah”, he told his classmates, “I think I’ll do a practice.”

“Cool!” Tomas said because for him absolutely anything was cool, “with what company?”

“It’s not really a company”, Iceland replied, “more an institution, society or something.”

“So?” Julia asked, “are you going to keep us guessing?” Iceland smirked slightly and the humans kept giving him questioning looks.

“Government of Denmark offered me a place for practice”, Iceland finally said and lied just a bit because there hasn’t really been anything to offered but he couldn’t really say that his talking bird was told him to do so, “so I guess I’m going to work for the country a while.”  

“Super”, Tomas praised him, “serve the nation that is giving you the education!”

“Exactly”, Iceland said and hoped that Denmark would not decide to say anything like that too, “or well, almost like that.” 


	12. Higher questions

“So you gonna serve the nation that is giving you the education”, Denmark said as the first thing right after Iceland told him and Norway about his decision, “this is gonna be great!” Iceland grimaced and silently scolded himself for hoping that Denmark would not say that. Of course he would. When the Dane had last time done like Iceland hoped him to do?  

“Well, he did change the language”, Norway noted in Icelandic. Iceland gave him a confusing look before he realized that he might had mumbled his thoughts out loud instead of keeping quiet about them.

“Did I say my thoughts out loud?” he asked and Norway nodded, “shit, this stress is too much.” The Norwegian ruffled his hair and started to collect the plates. It was Friday evening and they had decided to be lazy so their dinner had been take-away from the restaurant around the corner. 

“Don’t worry”, Denmark said with a grin, “I have a plan for you.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh no, indeed”, Norway muttered.

“Can’t you help me, Nore?” Iceland said and leaned back to see his brother who had a small smirk on his lips.

“Nope”, he said, “it was nice to know you, Is.”

“Nore”, Iceland called after him but only reply was a soft chuckle. The Icelander shook his head and got up because he still had a class to go to. There were few courses left before the summer holiday so he wasn’t ready to just lay back. He walked past the kitchen and grabbed the lunch pack Denmark had loyally prepared for him. 

“Island”, Norway said just before the younger nation stepped out. He kept the door open, but stopped to give the Norwegian a questioning look.

“What?”

“I’ll have to go to visit my own land today”, Norway said, “only for few days. I’m just letting you know so you don’t need to wonder where I am.”

“Or wonder about why Dan is sulking”, Iceland muttered.

“He doesn’t sulk when I’m not here”, Norway noted.

“Yes I do!” Denmark yelled from the living room. Iceland gave his brother a “what did I say” –look and Norway sighed.

“I see”, he said, “well, I refuse to acknowledge it as my fault.” 

“Whatever”, Iceland said with a shrug and moved again to step out from the apartment, “see you in few days or so.”

“Yes, see you”, Norway said and waived to the Icelander. 

Days were getting longer and the warmer weather gave hope for the spring, though the wind from the sea was still harsh and cold. Iceland felt better and more energized after every day despite of the fact that the courses were already half way through again and he had to work a lot for the projects before exams. It made him slightly happier that this would be the last time when he had exams. He wouldn’t need to do any for the practise and beside of that, he only had Thesis to do. 

Norway was still in his own land, but that didn’t worry Iceland much since it had been only three days since he left. He also called every day and so far it seemed that he would return for Saturday. Denmark was quite excited about that and he complained about his loneliness a lot. Iceland didn’t really care about listening him and also made sure to let the Dane know that such acting was stupid because he and Norway usually lived in different places. Denmark replied with a rather strange explanation of how he had got so used for Norway being near almost all the time that he couldn’t live without anymore. Iceland had rolled his eyes and focused on the research he was working with. 

“Hey guys, do you have plans for summer?” Tomas asked when he, Carl and Iceland were sitting in lobby and waiting for Julia to join them so they could go to library to work on their project. She had went to get lunch for herself and left them to wait. 

“I have”, Carl said with a small smile, “I’m going with Julia and meet her family. She will have work for summer and, well, her dad is lawyer and it seems like I could make an internship at his work place.”

“That is so cool!” Tomas said, “so you guys are serious already? Meeting the family is the final step, you know.”

“Things are going well”, Carl admitted and his look softened when he thought about his girlfriend, “she is so wonderful.”

“Hah ha, you are smitten”, Tomas laughed.

“Says guy who calls her wife ten times per day”, Carl said back, but Tomas simply grinned and nodded.

“I have to make sure she knows I’m thinking about her”, he said, “okay, Erik, any plans?”

“I was thinking about starting the practice during the summer so I’ll hopefully be ready with this all a bit faster”, Iceland said and thought a moment about Nordic nations’ annual summer trip that would be organized by Finland this time, “and I think we are going to have a long family meeting somewhere in July.” 

“Cool”, Tomas said with a nod. That was all they had time to talk about when Julia appeared with a sandwich in her hand and a bag on shoulder. 

“I have bad news”, she said and placed herself next to Carl, “I heard the library is closed today.”

“What?” Tomas said with a shocked voice, “but that’s our favourite place to study! Where will we go now?”

“We can sit here”, Carl replied with a shrug but Tomas shook his head.

“This lobby is way to restless place to do anything important”, he said, “damn it, my room is too small for all of us to fit in and I think all the group work rooms around here are booked.”

“I’m living in the student community”, Carl said and grimaced, “you know how it is.”

“My room is big but I’m living with a family and they have two small kids”, Julia said with an apologizing smile, “they get quite loud around this time.” Iceland looked around and wondered if he should offer the place. After all it was a big and quiet apartment. He usually didn’t want to bring humans to his home, but this would be a special case.

“We have space in our apartment”, he said, “it’s only me and Matias right now so it’s quiet too.”

“Perfect!” Tomas said.

“I’ll have to ask if my brother is okay with this”, Iceland muttered and took his phone while the humans started to chat about other things.

_ Is: Dan, are you at home? _

_ Dan: Yeah, why? _

_ Dan: Is the queen or prime minister asking? _

_ Dan: Because then I’m not. _

_ Dan: They know where I live : (  _

_ Is: No, but I’m going to tell Nore that you are avoiding work again. _

_ Dan: I’m only having a well-deserved break! _

_ Dan: Why did you ask? _

_ Is: We need a place to study. Is it okay if we come there? _

_ Dan: Woah, you are bringing humans in! _

_ Dan: Sure. _

_ Is: Can you check that there is nothing suspicious around? _

_ Dan: Yeah. _

_ Dan: I will hide our skeletons into a closet! _

_ Dan: And all the top secret papers. _

_ Dan: Should I also move away my Norge shrine? _

_ Is: Your what…? _

_ Dan: My shrine for Norge : ) _

_ Is: What the fuck? _

_ Dan: Just kidding! _

_ Dan: I don’t have that. _

_ Dan: Because I’m worshipping him in my heart. _

_ Dan: He is too gorgeous to have anything less. _

_ Is: I so hope Nore will come back soon because you are getting too weird, Dan. _

_ Dan : D  _

_ Is: Next time your queen asks about you, I’ll tell her where you are hiding. _

_ Dan : ( _

“He is okay with this”, Iceland said and put his phone away without bothering to reply for the last message.

“Super”, Tomas said and stretched his arms before getting up from the low chair he had sat on, “where exactly you live in? Is it far away?”

“Not really”, Iceland replied, “we can take metro to Kongens Nytorv and it will be only ten minutes’ walk from there.”

“You live in centrum?” Carl asked with a slightly surprised look and Iceland nodded, “how much rent you pay?”

“Nothing”, he replied honestly, “my brother owns the apartment and let me live there for free.”

“Woah, you are a lucky one”, Tomas said and shook his head, “I am paying so much for only a small room.” Others nodded and started a small discussion about Denmark’s high rents. Iceland didn’t have anything to add on that so he mostly just listened and tried to nod at right moments.

“Hey, Matias!” Iceland yelled when they got in the apartment. For a moment the place was suspicious quiet but then Denmark peeked over the corner and smiled. The humans were more and less curious about the place but Tomas was only one who didn’t even try to hide it. He was hurrying with getting his shoes off so he could take a closer look around. 

“Hey, Eiríkur”, the Dane said in Icelandic, “these are your classmates?”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied and switched to English, “Julia, Tomas, Carl, this is my Danish brother Matias.”

“Matias Andersen”, Denmark said, “nice to meet you. Oh, well, I think we two have met already.” He looked at Julia who nodded.

“Yes”, she said with a polite smile, “at the shop. Thank you for letting us to use your apartment.”

“It is no problem at all”, Denmark said with a grin, “Eiríkur never brings friends over so I was already thinking that he doesn’t have any.”

“Hah ha”, Iceland said dryly, “you don’t bring anybody either.”

“Only because I meet them at the work and bar”, Denmark said. Iceland didn’t really care, but Tomas looked like he had million questions to ask but he was slightly intimidated by the Dane so he didn’t dare just yet. Iceland was sure he would still start with the questions in five minutes or so. Julia and Carl were just getting their laptops from the bags and preparing for the work

“Yeah so, I’ll be in my room doing some work”, Denmark said, “so have fun with studying. If you need anything to eat, just take whatever you can find from the fridge. Well, almost anything. That surströmming is there only for to be used as a weapon later. Oh, and Eiríkur, Sigurd will be here in few hours.”

“I thought he is coming on Saturday”, Iceland said. It was easy to guess that Sigurd was in fact Norway, though Iceland was sure the man had have another name last time when he heard it. Of course Denmark knew what name the Norwegian was using currently.

“He managed to delegate some tasks to other people”, Denmark said with a shrug, “so he is coming a bit earlier.”

“Okay”, Iceland mumbled. Denmark disappeared into his room and Iceland started to work on the project with his human classmates. He had hoped that they would be ready before Norway’s arrival but apparently the man had speeded up a bit on way because almost exactly one and half hour later they heard the door opening. Denmark, who had come to talk with them during a break, smiled widely when his nation senses told him that Norway was very close. During the chatting with the humans Iceland had been surprised how good liar Denmark was and how well he handled all the questions about his life when he spoke with them. But then again, the Danish nation was known for the fact that he actually liked to chat with people so maybe he had just had more time to practice. They all seemed also to like him, which was not surprising Iceland either. 

“Sigurd is here!” the Dane yelled and jumped up to meet the man at the door.

“Who is Sigurd?” Tomas asked. He had been too busy with other observations to ask that when Norway had been mentioned first time. 

“My brother”, Iceland replied calmly, “the Norwegian one.” Iceland heard the door opening and he could see the Dane waiting like a loyal puppy so he could hug the Norwegian right when he got in. Suddenly Iceland was afraid that the Dane was going to forget that he was supposed to be Norway’s brother for now. Of course they were pretending to be only adopted brothers but it would be still very strange for them to kiss. Especially because their “nice to meet you again, I have missed you” –kisses tended to be a bit more than small pecks. Also, Norway didn’t know they had humans over so he wouldn’t be one to decline the kiss.

“Hej, brother!” Iceland yelled just when the Dane went in for the hug. It was enough for him to remember the situation and with an apologizing smile he kept his lips for himself. Iceland could hear him murmuring a quick explanation for the Norwegian in Old Norse, the language they used when they wanted to keep things in the family. 

“Hei, Eiríkur”, Norway said and stepped in the living room, “you have friends over?” He had a small suitcase with him and he let it to drop on the floor from his shoulder. 

“Yeah”, Iceland nodded, “Julia, Carl, Tomas, meet my another brother, Sigurd.”

“Sigurd Holgersen”, Norway said and shook hands with the humans. The Norwegian nation had a skill to make any person feel insecure around him and so the three humans were a bit wary to answer for his greeting. They still did, because they had spent almost a year studying with Iceland so they were not too affected by Norway.

“Nice to meet you”, Julia said as she had already taken the position of the leader of the group and was usually the first to act.

“So it is”, Norway replied, “Eiríkur had talked a lot about you but this the first time I actually have a chance to meet any of you.” Actually Iceland didn’t even remember when he would have said anything about his classmates but Norway was trying to be polite. 

“He speaks a lot about you too”, Julia said and then it looked like she hesitated a moment before continuing, “actually, I would like to speak with you about something.” Iceland frowned when he heard the woman’s almost too polite tone and hidden determination. That was the voice Julia used whenever she was stating her opinion and Iceland had already learnt that she was rather stubborn woman. Carl and Tomas seemed to have no idea what she was talking about because they looked just as surprised as Iceland did. 

“Well, I’m listening”, Norway replied calmly and sat down on the last free armchair. Despite of the long travel he had taken from Oslo to Copenhagen he didn’t look tired at all. He was calm just like always. 

“This is not an easy topic so I’ll say it straight”, the women said, “Erik has mentioned few times that he does not enjoy being in the University, but he had to do it. Also, he said that working in high positions is ‘a family thing’. He always speaks about you with a very admiring tone which makes me wonder if you are the reason why he is studying.” Iceland froze and glanced at the Norwegian who still had his calm, almost emotionless look on his face. Norway didn’t always take the criticism well so it made Iceland nervous when he didn’t reply anything for a few minutes.

“Jul, you can’t just say something like that”, Carl whispered but the woman was too busy with having a staring competition with the Norwegian nation.   

“That is an interesting statement”, Norway said after while without turning his gaze away, “but I can assure you that I’m not the one making him to do this. He is not under my rule and therefore I don’t hold power over his decisions.”

“In that case I apologize”, Julia said, but surprisingly Norway’s lips turned in to a small smile. 

“No need for that”, he said, “I like to see people who are ready to stand for their friends. Where you come from?” The atmosphere in the apartment turned much lighter right away though Iceland felt still slightly awkward. It was just good that Norway wasn’t pissed off about the blame. 

“I can’t say, actually”, Julia replied and her lips turned in to a smile too, “you see, on our first day Erik refused to play ‘guess the nationality’ -game with Tomas so he made us promise that we will not tell our nationalities to him if he doesn’t directly ask.” 

“I see”, Norway said and chuckled, “well, I know my brother and I’m sure he will not ask anytime soon. Would it be okay if I guess instead?”

“Sure!” Tomas said and his normal cheerful attitude returned soon after Norway and Julia relaxed, “it has been already almost a year and he only knows that I’m from the Netherlands.” Denmark laughed and sat down on the armrest of the chair Norway was occupying. He made carefully sure that he kept his hands for himself. 

“The Netherlands? I would never have guess that one”, the Dane said.

“Erik was quite surprised too for some reason”, Tomas admitted with a grin, but Iceland only shrugged. Meanwhile Norway had been observing the woman and he nodded slightly.

“You have a slight accent in your English”, he said and stroke his chin, “reminds me of French, but there is something else too. Something from another part of the world, but I would say that you are at least half French.”

“True”, Julia said with a nod, “my father is French and I was born and raised in France.”

“That explains the accent and your rather strong nature”, Norway said and sounded slightly amused, “it is harder to figure out where your mother might be from, but do I get close if I say somewhere from Middle-East?”

“Yes”, Julia nodded again, “she is from Iran.”

“Woah, you are good”, Tomas said and clapped, “it took me over hour to figure that out.”

“I have lot of experience with nations”, Norway replied calmly and made the Dane chuckle for the joke that the humans didn’t even notice.

“Guess Carl’s next”, Tomas said and the Norwegian turned to look at the bit shy looking man. 

“Could you say something?” he asked.

“What you want me to say?” Carl asked and Norway nodded.

“United States, right?”

“Yeah, correct”, Carl muttered, “it was too easy?”

“I can try to guess the State too”, the Norwegian said, “Colorado?”

“Almost”, Carl said, “Wyoming.” 

“Well, I can’t be perfect”, Norway admitted. Denmark leaned closer and whispered in Old Norse that for him the Norwegian was always perfect. That made Norway snort and Iceland giving them a warning glance. 

“Really impressive performance anyway”, Tomas said with a laugh, “Erik didn’t even want to play.”

“It was the first day”, Iceland complained, “I was tired.” The humans laughed, but they still admitted that the first day had been hard with all the new things coming at them at once. They chatted with the nations a moment longer, but then Norway informed them that he wished to take a rest. Denmark went to their room too to continue his own work or just simply to hang out with the Norwegian. Iceland didn’t know but he was happy that they close the door just in case. After few more hours Julia said that she was ready to call it a day and go home. Others were eager to agree and so Iceland found himself alone in the living room. He closed his laptop and lay down on the couch, his legs hanging over the armrest and one of the pillows under his head. He didn’t notice Norway until the man leaned against the backrest and looked down at him. 

“So”, Norway said and smiled softly, “you sound admiring when you talk about me?” Iceland snorted and shook his head.

“No”, he said, “she pretty much blamed you about everything and that is the only thing you want to tell me?”

“Of course”. Norway replied with an amused tone and Iceland sighed.

“Danmark!” he yelled, though the Dane would have heard him even without yelling in their small apartment, “Nore needs you!”

“For what?” Denmark asked and leaned on the backrest too. He smiled and looked like his normal happy self. 

“To keep him busy”, Iceland said before Norway had a chance to reply.  

“Oi, that’s my favourite job”, the Dane said with a grin, “come on, Nor, let’s not bother Is.” Norway seemed to be in good mood because he laughed softly and nodded.

“Good night, little brother”, he said and followed the Dane. Iceland mumbled something that somewhat sounded like “good night, brother”, and he yawned while stretching his arms. At the moment he felt good and happy. 


	13. Higher practice

Rest of the semester went by fast and soon Iceland found himself saying goodbye to his classmates when they returned to their home countries, or in Carl’s case to his girlfriend’s home country, and he alone stayed in Denmark’s land. He still didn’t feel too bad about that. After all, he was going to start his practice and that was worrying enough to keep his thoughts busy. 

“Island… Island….”, an annoying voice kept disturbing him while he tried to sleep. Iceland groaned and pushed a pillow over his head but sadly that didn’t really help. The voice was still chanting his name and a finger sneaked under the pillow to poke his cheek. For a moment Iceland thought about biting the finger but he knew the Dane would whine about that later so he only gave the man a bad glare instead.

“Go away”, he grunted but the Dane just smiled.

“Yay, you are awake!” he cheered, “come on, it’s your first day!” Iceland hadn’t heard his alarm going off and he usually always woke up for that. He glanced at the table next to his bed only to find out that the clock was barely three at morning.

“Dan, I’m not going anywhere now”, the Icelander muttered, “it’s too early.”

“Yeah, but I’m very excited and I can’t sleep”, Denmark complained, “can’t we just start a bit early?”

“No.”

“Is, please?”

“No”, he repeated, “go to cuddle Nore or something.”

“But…” Iceland sighed loudly and moved the pillow away.

“Noregur!” He yelled and first there was no answer. It took few second for the Norwegian to wake up from his slumber, realize that the Dane was gone from the bed and understand that Iceland was calling him. Norway wasn’t a morning person and it usually took few cups of coffee before he could even function normally. Honestly Iceland had no idea how his brother had survived the times before coffee had arrived to the north. He was quite sure that living with Norway had been near hell during those mornings. That probably explained why Denmark was usually surprising quiet after waking up. 

“Danmark”, Norway mumbled with a sleepy voice and leaned slightly against the man, “you made me get up.”

“Shit”, the Dane said, though his arm easily found its place on the Norwegian’s waist, “okay, let’s get you quickly back to bed.”

“I hate to get up”, Norway muttered while Denmark tugged him toward their bedroom. Iceland smirked and went back to sleep, knowing that he had at least won this time. 

Few hours later Iceland woke up to the empty house just a couple of minutes before his alarm would have gone off. He quickly pushed the button because he hated its annoying ring and didn’t fancy about listening it without any reasons. The moment he got up he knew he was alone in the apartment. Norway might have been a quiet person, but Denmark for sure was not. Even if he was sleeping, there would be some slight nose of him mumbling in his dream, moving around in bed or snoring. Iceland still hadn’t figure out how Norway was able to sleep next to such a restless man, but somehow he had to be okay with it because they still shared the bed after all these years. 

The lack of the usual morning sounds made Iceland slightly worried, but only because it might have meant that the Dane was planning again something that everybody else would not find impressing. He used a moment to listen, but even after trying he couldn’t spot the hum of the coffee machine, steps against the floor or any lowered voices telling him that the older nations were still in the apartment. He frowned but decided to check what was going on. He would have to do that sooner or later anyway. 

A quick look around told him that Norway and Denmark were really gone. He glanced at the clock to make sure that he wasn’t late, but it was barely half past six. He wasn’t going to start his day until eight o’clock. Iceland made his way to the kitchen and easily spotted a piece of paper taped on the fridge’s door, which had lately become a place to leave messages. 

_ Is, _

_ The idiot is currently unable to hold himself on normal level of activity, which has forced me to rely on radical actions.  _

_ No, I did not murder him. _

_ We are waiting for you in the idiot’s office. No need to hurry.  _

_ Bring me coffee. _

 

  * __Norge__



 

_ : )  _

 

  * __Dan__



 

“Okay”, Iceland muttered out loud and placed the paper on the pile of the older ones. Apparently nobody wanted to throw them away, though they had already fulfilled their meaning, so the pile of messages on the fridge’s door was gradually becoming higher. It already surpassed the pile of old newspapers and ads coming from the post. 

Iceland ended up following his brother’s instructions by not having any hurry. After all it would be only about ten minute walk to the Denmark’s work place and the Icelander really enjoyed having a calm morning, a privilege that had apparently been denied from Norway. He would have felt bad for the Norwegian, but he also knew that the man had made all his decisions by himself and didn’t deserve any pity about this. Also, Norway still tried to make Iceland to call him big brother all the time. 

When Iceland some time later made his way to the right place, he was carrying a full thermos bottle of coffee just in case and ready to face whatever Denmark had plotted. The fact that Norway was involved too made Iceland feel only a bit surer about the situation. 

It seemed that everybody in the building had been informed about him because he made it quickly past the entrance and one of the assistants gave him a binder full of papers that probably somehow related to the whatever Denmark had been planning. Iceland didn’t have much time to look at them when he was already taken to the familiar room and wished a good luck for reasons Iceland didn’t know about.

“Come in, Is”, Norway’s voice said from inside just before Iceland knocked. He sighed quietly and shook his head while briefly wondering if his brother would never stop being so mysteriously creepy. 

“Hi, Nore”, he muttered and stopped suddenly when he saw the Norwegian nation calmly sitting at the table an open laptop on front of him and sleeping Dane on side. Denmark looked like he had been doing something, but got so exhausted that the sleep had took over suddenly and let him slumped against the table. Iceland frowned and gave his brother a questioning look.

“What have you done to him?” he asked and he wasn’t sure if he should be worried. At least Denmark seemed to be breathing but the earlier mention of “radical actions” worried Iceland a bit. 

“Nothing bad, really”, Norway replied calmly and glanced at the sleeping Dane, “he simply had too much energy and I do not appreciate him waking me up inhumanly early.”

“So?”

“We had a nice and long morning run”, Norway said, “it such a great way to get rid of all extra energy.”

“Looks more like all of the energy”, Iceland muttered, “why you look so fresh then?” Norway smirked slightly before replying.

“I did not run”, he said, “my duty was simply to keep Dan running.”

“Okay”, Iceland said slowly and decided that he didn’t want to know more, “what am I supposed to do here then?”

“First we have to wait for others”, Norway said and glanced at the clock, “they should be here in twenty minutes.”

“Others?” Iceland asked.

“Yes”, Norway replied, “but don’t worry. Dan’s plan is actually brilliant. It surprised me, but apparently all the tax monies used for his decades of education are finally paying off.”

“I didn’t worry until you said that”, Iceland murmured and sighed. Good thing that his practice was supposed to last only for two months. 

“Where is my coffee?” Norway asked and ignored the Icelander’s sad look.

“Here”, the younger nation mumbled and placed the bottle on the table. Norway gave him an appreciate look after seeing that he had brought just enough for morning. 

“Thank you, Is”, he said and opened the bottle quickly, “you are my favourite.”

“I’m not sure if I want to be your favourite, if that is what you do for you loved ones”, Iceland muttered and glanced at the Dane who was just starting to wake up again. Norway shrugged and took a sip of still warm enough coffee. It seemed like he wasn’t going to do anything else than wait, so Iceland sat down on the last free chair and placed the binder on the table. He was just wondering if he should check what it was about, when Denmark groaned and raised his head.

“Is Island already here?” he said between yawns, “oh, my muscles hurt so much.”

“He is sitting right next to you”, Norway replied, “and that is what you get from waking me up.”

“Hi, Is!” the Dane said and seemed to gain some more energy when he turned to look at the Icelander, “are you ready?”

“For what?”

“For fun and stuff”, the Dane replied, “this is gonna be great.” He had been saying that so many times that Iceland wondered if he should tell the Dane that repeating things too many times made them sound faker. 

“Are you going to tell me exactly what I’m going to do?”

“And spoil the surprise?”  Denmark asked, “hell no. Just wait a moment. You will love this.” Iceland sighed once again and glanced at his brother who looked slightly too amused. 

“Shall I love it?” he asked.

“Maybe”, Norway replied with a shrug and smirk, “ _ I  _ will love it anyway.” 

“That is not what I wanted to hear”, Iceland complained, “okay, I need some signatures on these papers from University before we start whatever you have been plotting.” He took the documents from his bag and threw them on the table. 

“Yeah, sure”, Denmark said and looked around like he was missing something, “Nor, have you seen my official signature writing pen?”

“You mean that wacky souvenir pen you got from Oslo last month?”

“Yeah!”

“I might have intentionally misplaced it into a trash can”, the Norwegian replied and Denmark gave him a sad look.

“I liked that pen”, he complained, “it had a nice shade of ink and it was very smooth to write with.” Norway gave him a long look but after the Dane just stared back, he sighed.

“Very well”, he said and gave up, “I didn’t throw it away. It is behind the photos on the window sill.”  Denmark let a happy cheer and rushed to check if his pen really was saved. After picking it up from behind of all the photos he had collected to bring some colour to his office, he returned to others and quickly signed the papers without really reading what it was about. Just when he was giving them back to the Icelander, the door opened and a smiling Finn step in. Sweden was following just behind him and gave a greeting nod to other three nations.

“So”, Iceland said, “what are Fin and Sví doing here?”

“Helping”, Denmark said with a grin, “so nice you made it, guys! I hope the flight was nice. Except for you, Sve, your flight should be bad.” 

“Hm”, Sweden grunted.

“It was okay”, Finland said, “did you told Is yet?”

“No, we thought a small surprise would be nice”, Norway said and got a bad look from the Icelander.

“So everybody else knows what I am gonna do, but I do not?” he asked, “great. I’m not going to love this.”

“You will”, Denmark promised yet again and smiled, “so let’s get this thing going on. We have totally eight weeks to teach Icey all we know about being a nation!”

“I am…”, Iceland tried to say but the Dane had been preparing his speech for a while and he ignored the Icelander easily.

“Eight weeks”, he said, “first week is going to be instruction so Is will not get lost around here and second and third weeks will be for basic governing and other more boring human stuff, but then the fun starts!”

“Oh no”, Iceland sighed and his brother chuckled softly.

“Each of us will take a lead of one week and teach Island”, Denmark said and sounded genuinely proud of his idea, “it doesn’t matter what we teach him but the aim is to help him become even stronger nation and maybe take over the world or something in near future. That would be cool.” Iceland looked around only to see Finland still smiling friendly and somehow excited look on his face, Sweden looked exactly like he always did but he was listening carefully, Denmark was just purely excited and seemed to have forgotten his earlier exhaustion and Norway was smiling softly. They all looked ready and happy to have this chance, and Iceland bit his lip. 

“What about the last week?” he asked with slightly unsure voice.

“What about that?” Denmark asked.

“Eight weeks, Dan”, Norway noted, “you were speaking about seven now.”

“Oh, right”, the Dane said with a smile, “the last one is our holiday week. We gonna go to Fin’s place. Somewhere far north where there is no internet and more mosquitos you will ever want to meet. It will be lovely. He is gonna pay it.” 

“Yep”, Finland said with a nod.  

“So, Island”, Denmark continued, “what you say about the plan? It is your decision now.” Iceland could feel other Nordics looking at him. Honestly he wasn’t sure if the plan was good but it probably didn’t hurt to let them do what they wanted. 

“Okay”, he said and nodded, “let’s do this.”


	14. Higher Swedish

During his first week of the practice, Iceland learnt that Denmark’s idea about “instruction week” was to throw the poor trainee in every strange and uncomfortable position he just could find. Just in five days Iceland had met most of the top politicians of Denmark and even those who the Danish nation called his “bosses”. That wasn’t too bad because Iceland was used to deal with that specific type of people, but Denmark also wanted to introduce him to every single person that has something to do with the nation. That of course took a lot of time so Iceland found himself being dragged around and after one week he was tired and sure that he had just met at least ten percent of the Danish population and already forgot all the names. In middle of all that chaos, Iceland was just happy that Sweden and Finland had decided not to try to fit into Denmark’s small city apartment and they were staying in his much bigger house instead, leaving three other Nordics mostly alone. Iceland did love his family bit he wasn’t sure if he could have survived them all in so small space at the same time. 

The following two weeks were, just like Denmark had told him, only the basic stuff. Iceland got a feeling that the report he was supposed to write for the university, should be mostly just about those two weeks he spent with humans working under the government. It didn’t feel like a good idea to write down anything about whatever his family was going to teach him. Firstly, it would be more likely something top-secret and secondly, nobody would believe it anyway and thirdly, he wasn’t supposed to get that kind of education. So carefully he wrote his full report about all legalisations and other things he saw during the two weeks, fixed the dates to look like it was all done in eight weeks, and happily put the paper on side to wait the right moment to turn it in. 

After three weeks the fun started. Or so Denmark called it. Iceland called it madness. 

“Okay”, the Icelander heard Denmark’s loud voice saying from the room, “we toss the coin and whoever wins will have the first week.”

“How we know you are not cheating?” Norway asked calmly when Iceland carefully peeked around the corner. He had learnt to be cautious whenever he saw all four of them in the same room. They always came up with stupid ideas when they were left together for a while. 

“It is impossible to cheat!” Denmark declared.

“Seemed to be easy last time”, Finland muttered and shared a look with Sweden. The Dane sighed and shook his head.

“I was not cheating that time”, he said, “the coin just loved me more.”

“The coin was wrong”, Sweden stated. Iceland figured out that it was safe to go closer, or he didn’t really have a choice to go somewhere else so it was just best to see what was happening and be over with it.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“We are tossing a coin to find out in which order we will teach you”, Norway replied and gave his brother one of his small and rare smiles, “we all want to have the first turn.”

“Really?” Iceland asked and looked at the nations who all nodded. They even looked slightly too serious and the Icelander noted that they were all holding coins ready. Denmark, Norway and Sweden all had five crowns coins but Finland had one of his old ones he kept with him for nostalgia reasons. Apparently it also came handy whenever he needed to toss a coin. 

“Yeah”, Denmark said with a grin, “I’m gonna win this.”

“You not”, Sweden grunted back. He and Denmark stared at each other, but the promising start for the fight was interrupted by Norway.

“Should we just do this before Is gets bored?” he asked sharply. Denmark gave Sweden the last challenging look, but nodded. 

“Yeah, let’s go”, he said. During the following thirty minutes, Iceland had an honour to witness the weirdest tossing the coin he had ever seen. First of all, they used four coins at the same time. Apparently the rules were complicated and developed during the years, starting from the days when three Scandinavians had been sailing together. Somewhere during the history Finland had learnt the game too, but Iceland was just happy he had never had need for it. He thought it all looked stupid and did not make any sense at all.

Still, they finally had the winner and the loser. 

“I don’t understand this!” Denmark said loudly and pushed the coin deep into his pocket like he would never want to see it again, “how can a Swede win me in my own land?” Sweden looked calm and like his normal self, but there was a small smile on his lips so they didn’t even need to ask Finland to tell them that the man was happy. 

“Well”, Norway replied, “he just did. So it seems to be possible.”

“He cheated!”

“I thought that is your job?”

“I never cheat!”

“Guys”, Iceland said, “should you now tell me what the hell we gonna do next?”

“Language, Is”, Norway replied almost automatically, “and yes. Sve will have the honour to have the first week.” Iceland nodded and felt slightly relieved. Sweden was probably the most sensible of them all and for sure he would not make Iceland do anything stupid. It would be a good and easy start.

“Second week will be for me”, Norway continued and this time Iceland had to held back a sigh. He knew his brother would take everything he could get out from the one week. There would be so much things and work to do when he was under the Norwegian’s supervision. 

“Then it is me!” Denmark declared with a wide smile, “I wanted the first week, but at least I will have now more time to plan.”

“You have been living with Is months now”, Finland reminded the Dane, “let us others have fun too.”

“Sure, sure”, Denmark replied. Because there was only one nation left, Iceland knew that Finland had lost the game and therefore would be the last one to teach Iceland. The Icelander honestly was not sure what to think about that. He liked Finland, but out of all Nordics, he was the one he knew worst. That was why he had no idea what the Finn would make him do. 

“So”, Iceland said and glanced at the clock, which told him that there were still lot of time and he couldn’t call it a day yet, “do we start now or…?”

“Yes”, Sweden replied with a nod, “follow me.” Somebody would maybe have been insulted by the Swede’s short reply and orders, but Iceland was used for him and knew it was just his normal way to communicate. 

“Good luck!” Denmark yelled after them while Finland simply wished them lot of fun and Norway nodded for goodbye before setting down to do his own work.

Iceland followed the Swede through the hallways, neither of them saying anything. There were some humans around, but even those who knew about the nations, seemed to be wary about Sweden. Iceland felt bad about the fact that only the man’s look made others be afraid of him. He had never seen Sweden doing anything bad and he fully believed Finland when the man claimed that the Swede was the sweetest person he had ever met. Sure there was the scary aura around him, the one that followed every old and once powerful nations, but Sweden didn’t seem to think himself over others. 

“Where we are going?” Iceland asked after a while.

“Hm, to my office”, Sweden replied shortly.

“Wait, you have an office here?” Iceland asked and frowned. 

“Yes.”

“Why?” Sweden did not reply right away nor did he glance at the Icelander, but when Iceland looked at him, he almost saw a trace of amusement on the man’s face.

“It comes from the time when I had to stay here”, he explained, “it has been a long time ago, but Dan likes to make sure that I know I will have a place here too. He is an idiot.”

“I see”, Iceland mumbled, but the frown on his face didn’t leave, “but why Nore doesn’t have own office then?”

“He has”, Sweden replied.

“But he always uses Dan’s”, Iceland noted and Sweden nodded. He knew about it too.

“Hm”, he said, “Nor also has own room in Dan’s house, but have you seen him ever using it?”

“No, he always sleeps in… oh”, Iceland said and suddenly understood, “is he a bit clingy?” Sweden nodded and Iceland could have sworn the man looked like he was going to laugh. They walked a bit more until the Sweden stopped in front of old, slightly worn out looking door.

“Here”, he said and pushed the door open. Iceland hadn’t have time to think what he was expecting from Sweden’s office, but for sure it would have never been what he was seeing now. The room was quite spacious, but most of the place was still taken up by the table in front of the windows. There wasn’t much of personal touch, probably simply because Sweden rarely used the room, but somehow the room still looked messy. There were weapons, mostly different swords and knives, all around the place and one was even stabbed in deep into the wall. There were also scratches on the walls, marking every single time something sharp had been thrown on it. Iceland stared at it for a while before turning to look at the Swede who had calmly walked to the table and was now setting up the almost oddly modern looking laptop. 

“What…?” Iceland started but decided that it was just better to gesture around than try to say something.

“Old room, Dan does not let anybody here so nothing has been changed”, Sweden explained without glancing up, “I was angry.”

“You mean like few hundred years ago?” Iceland asked for just to make sure.

“Yeah”, Sweden said and finally glanced up to the Icelander who looked slightly worried, “don’t mind about it. It is the past.”

“Okay” Iceland replied and turned away from the destroyed wall, though a small part of him wondered if he should still ask few questions. Maybe Finland could tell him more about how Sweden had really been back then, when Iceland had been very young and closely protected by his brother. 

“You want to hear my plan?” Sweden said after spending a moment longer with his laptop. Iceland nodded, hoping that it would not be anything too bad. 

“Better to get over it”, he mumbled dryly, which made the Swede give him somewhat reassuring look. He took his laptop and pushed it at the Icelander, who took the device but didn’t get any answers for his questioning looks. Next the Swedish man took a phone from his pocket and placed it on the laptop, following with keys and a small notebook. 

“Sví, what is….”, Iceland asked and frowned at all the stuff on his arms.

“You will be Sverige now”, Sweden replied sternly, “for one week.”

“What?” Iceland almost yelled.

“I’ll let you take over my land”, Sweden explained, “it will be only theoretical change. My people would be upset if I give you all for real, but for now on till the end of the week, you are me.” Iceland thought the moment just a while ago when he had been sure that Sweden would not give him anything too bad. He had been so wrong. 

“Sví! I can’t suddenly just take care of ten million people!” he said, but Sweden didn’t look like he would just abandon his plan after few rejecting words. 

“It is a good training”, he said, “and I’ll be with you all the time.” Iceland sighed and looked down at the stuff he had got. Sweden was right about it being a good training. Iceland had never dealt with such a big population and economy than Sweden had. Even Stockholm alone had more people than in his whole country. The idea sounded scary and also included a deep trust. Even a theoretical position meant a lot for the nations and in one way, it gave Iceland a lot of temporary power. Sweden had to really trust on him and believe that the Icelander would not mess up things.

“Okay”, Iceland sighed and hoped that the Swede would really be with him all the week.

“One thing more”, Sweden muttered and picked up something from his pocket. Soon Iceland found out that it was a sticker and the Swede unceremoniously put it on the Icelander’s shirt. He glanced down and stared at the “Sverige #2” text for a while.

“Seriously?” he asked and this time he was sure the Swede looked highly amused. 

The next few hours made the Icelander feel slightly better about the situation. Sweden explained him everything carefully and told him the best way to deal with the daily tasks. Most of it made sense and was similar to the ways how the Icelander worked with his own land, but there were also some differences. Some were simply because of the larger economy and population, but with some habits and routines the only reason seemed to be the fact that Sweden just liked to work that way. After a while Iceland started to get fascinated about it. He had based his own working habits mostly on the ways how Denmark and Norway handled things, so the different way for sure gave him few new ideas. He also realized that nobody had really taught him the modern ways of working, as he had so suddenly been left alone after being in union with Denmark for a long time, so he found himself carefully listening the Swede.

After a long talk they were interrupted by the phone. Iceland wasn’t familiar with the tone, but after Sweden didn’t do anything and only stared at the Icelander like he was supposed to do something, he glanced at his side and realized that it was the phone he had got just a moment ago. He opened it to see the caller information and then gave Sweden a questioning look.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“My boss”, Sweden replied, “yours now. It is best to answer.”

“Do they know?” Iceland asked quickly and Sweden nodded. He had took care of everything, including letting the people near him to know that he would be replaced by Iceland for a while and that they should not worry about it because it surely didn’t mean the Icelanders were taking over the world. 

Iceland took a deep breath and placed the phone on his ear. 

**** 

“Hey!” Denmark greeted him when the Icelander returned to home that evening, “how are you, Sverige #2?” The Dane was grinning, but Iceland gave him only a simply look back. He felt tired after using all the day for getting all the new information and trying to figure out how the Swedish system worked. He hadn’t yet even checked the timetable for the week and he was slightly afraid what he would find from the Swedish nation’s notebook. 

“Tired”, he mumbled and walked to the living room. Norway was curled up on the couch and he greeted his brother with a nod and small smile. Denmark was following him and clearly not understanding that the Icelander only wanted to sleep.

“You know, if he is giving you too much shit, just tell me”, he said, “I can beat him up. I am expert on that.” Norway and Iceland both ignored the Dane’s comment. 

“How are you feeling?” Norway asked from the Icelander, who could hear a hint of worry in his voice. 

“Fine. Just tired”, he said, “it’s a lot but Sví is with me so I will survive.” Norway nodded and was clearly satisfied with the reply. 

“I left you some dinner in the kitchen”, Denmark said and settled down next to the Norwegian. They didn’t touch each other and there was a modest ten centimetre space between them while Norway looked like he didn’t even notice the Dane. Still, Iceland knew they would be cuddling and kissing immediately after he left the room. Sometime he wondered why Norway still refused to show his softer feelings when everybody already knew about those. 

“Thanks”, he muttered, “I’ll just eat and go to sleep.”

“Good night”, Denmark and Norway both said, and Iceland mumbled back something that sounded like the correct reply. He heated up some food and quickly ate before going to the bed. He could hear other two nations whispering to each other, but it didn’t bother him much. Actually, the familiarity of their voices calmed him and lulled him soon in to the sleep. 

His second day with Sweden went just like the first. Sweden kept telling him what to do, but also staying back and letting the Icelander to think and come up with his own solutions. Sometime the Swede would also bring up cases that were not currently going on, but interesting and something different from what Iceland usually did. He found out soon that some things were rather easy, like tourism that he also did a lot with his own land, and some were more difficult and he needed to do some work before he could come up with good answers. Especially forestry felt weird for him and also import and export had lot of things he had never thought about. 

“I thought you do lot of this”, Sweden noted after Iceland had been struggling with the import report for a while.

“Yes, I do”, he muttered and let a small sigh, “or my country do. I don’t usually work so much with that. I’m more often involved in my domestic politics.” Sweden nodded and they continued to work. Later Iceland noted that the examples he brought up were more focused on his foreign politics. He didn’t mention about it but he knew it was not a coincidence.

By third day they have formed some kind of routine. Iceland would arrive at eight o’clock and find the Swede patiently waiting for him. Norway and Denmark started their work day around the same time but they never bothered them and let Sweden to handle things. Iceland never saw Finland around, but he guessed the man was somewhere nearby because Sweden mentioned few times about spending evenings with him. 

They would spend first half of the day with working on the daily tasks and doing anything that Sweden usually had to do, including keeping in contact with his leaders. The second half after lunch, they focused on cases and different examples the Sweden came up with. Though Iceland had been horrified about having the responsibility over the Swedish land, he started to relax and be sure about himself after he realized that the basics were mostly same with the ones he had been working all his life. Sweden seemed to be satisfied with his decisions and work so after each day he gave the Icelander more and more free space.  

On their fourth day Sweden surprised him with giving him a thick pile of paper. Iceland stared at it and then at the Swede with a questioning look.

“Tomorrow we will go to Stockholm”, he explained, “there will be a meeting about the future plans. They have asked the nation to provide an advice.” Iceland nodded and without asking he knew that he was the one who would give that advice. It would be like a final test and he felt he wanted to pass it and make Sweden proud of him. The stern and quiet northern nation might not be so close to him like Norway and Denmark were, but the way how he was taking care that Iceland learnt all he could had impressed the younger nation. He had always known that Sweden too cared about him, but he hadn’t think about how far the man was ready to go for him. 

“Okay”, he said and looked at the papers offering all the information he could need. 

“I will let you work with this alone”, Sweden said, “I have marked the topics you are supposed to give advice to.” Iceland nodded and set down at the table with determination. Sweden looked at him a moment more, but then he nodded and left the younger nation alone. He didn’t seem to have any worries. 

After few hours Iceland admitted himself that the task was even harder than he had thought. Giving advice was one of the main tasks of the personifications and so Iceland had been doing it a fair amount, but always it had been about his own land. He had have lot of personal experience to use for giving the best advice he could, but despite of all the years and the latest lessons, he didn’t know Sweden so well and he couldn’t rely completely only into what he knew.

He tried to gather information from internet, but the more he went around the web the more he realized that it wasn’t what he needed. It was all the human point of view. He needed to be a nation and so he would have to ask a nation for the information. Iceland bit his lips and used few minutes to think his next move. He didn’t want to go to Sweden and say that he couldn’t finish the task. That felt like giving up and he really wanted to do good work. 

He glanced at the phone Sweden had gave him on their first day and which he had used mostly for taking in calls from people who worked for the Swedish nation. Iceland knew it wasn’t uncommon to ask help from another nation and he had witnessed many times Norway and Denmark working together, even swapping tasks occasionally. For sure Sweden also had somebody who helped him often, and Iceland had a feeling about who that might be. He made up his mind and took the phone, easily finding the right number from the contacts.

_ “Hi, Is!”  _ Finland’s cheerful voice said after few rings. Iceland felt relieved when he heard the Finn saying his name. After all he was calling from Sweden’s phone. Once Iceland had been forced to call Denmark from Norway’s phone, because his own didn’t have battery left and Norway couldn’t make that call for him. The Icelander was afraid he could never get rid of the feeling of having Denmark mistaking him for Norway and hearing all the things the excited Dane had managed say before Iceland had time to yell him that it wasn’t Norway calling. 

“Hi”, he said, “um… Fin, I would like to talk with you about something.”

_ “Sure, I am free today”,  _ Finland replied without any hesitation, though he was actually lying a bit,  _ “what it is about?” _

“I am working on a task for tomorrow”, he explained and moved the papers around, “I should give some advice, but…”

_ “You are unsure what to say?”  _ Finland finished the sentence for him and the Icelander nodded, though the another nation couldn’t see the gesture. 

“There are so many things I don’t know about his land, history and culture”, Iceland admitted, “I don’t know what to tell them.”

_ “Well, I can help with that!”  _ Finland said.

“Great”, Iceland said and hesitated only a bit, “wait, will this be cheating? I should do this by my own, I think.”

_ “Oh no, it is not”,  _ Finland told him, “ _ it’s normal to get help and he does not expect you to carry this all alone. You know, he calls me almost every week about something he needs to talk about and so I also call him whenever I am faced with something I am not so familiar with.” _

“Okay, that is good”, Iceland muttered and felt better now that he knew he had guessed right.

“ _ So, what is the problem?”  _ Finland asked and Iceland started to explain him the problem he was supposed to give an advice for. Finland listened him patiently and they ended up talking quite a while. Iceland found the Finn’s knowledge helpful and he was also slightly surprised how much Finland was able to help him. It sounded like he knew everything about Sweden, but then again they had been living together for centuries. It was long enough time to learn all.  

When the call ended, Iceland knew what he was going to do. He had been closer to the solution that he had though, but only Finland’s help made him be sure about it. While Iceland went back to work and to give a final touch to his to-be-given advice, in another side of the city Finland placed his phone on the table and smiled. 

“He is gonna be great”, he noted and the man sitting opposite from him nodded. Sweden already knew Iceland was doing a good job. 

“Hm”, he grunted and kept typing with the laptop he had borrowed from Finland, “he is a good student. Learns fast and do what I say.”   

“So”, Finland said and let a small smirk on his lips, “in other words, he is much easier to handle than I was?” Sweden halted, his fingers over the keyboard and eyes looking at the Finn. He hesitated to say anything, but slowly he nodded. 

“You bit me”, Sweden reminded the man about the event centuries earlier. The first tries to teach Finland how to be a real nation had not been successful.  

“Yeah, it wasn’t my proudest moment”, Finland admitted, though he sounded mostly amused, “but for my defence, I did not like you back then and it had been only fifteen years after you snatched me away from my land.”

“Sorry.”

“All forgiven”, Finland said with a soft smile, “so, älskling, what have you been doing?” Sweden glanced at the laptop’s screen before replying.

“Wrote that note for your foreign minister”, he said, “it was in the to-do list.”

“Oh, thanks, I have been pushing that away”, Finland said, “I hate it when I have to send all these ‘hey, should you do this’ -messages. Did you write it in Swedish?” Again Sweden nodded, though he looked slightly embarrassed.

“Should I have done it in Finnish?” he asked, but Finland shook his head quickly and looked almost frightening excited.

“No, no”, he said, “keep it in Swedish. It will piss him off a bit!” Sweden did not know why Finland wanted to piss off his ministers, but if it was making the man happy, Sweden would volunteer to piss off any Finnish minister at any moment. That was why he only simply nodded and added few more words on the note before handing it to Finland. 

**** 

On Friday morning Iceland was awake long before his alarm went off. He had packed a small bag for himself and everything was in order, including the speech he had prepared. This was definitely not first time he was going to step in front of audience and speak about his ideas. He did that almost weekly in his own land and he had also often presented things during the world meetings. This wasn’t even the first time when he spoke for Sweden’s boss because he could clearly remember having a speech few times during Nordic meetings. Still he felt nervous, because this wasn’t about him. It was all about Sweden and Iceland didn’t want to let the man down. 

“Are you okay?” Sweden asked later when they were already seated in the plane and cabin crew was showing the security information, “you have been quiet.” They had a normal flight in economy class, because it would raise too much attention if they used private planes and the flight was going to be a short one so they never bothered with getting the business class seats. Iceland had got the window seat and Sweden was sitting next to him. He had another man on his right side and the plane was almost full booked so they made sure not to talk about anything secret or important while they were in the plane. The noises from the motors blocked most of the talk anyway, but they had to be careful.

“Yeah”, Iceland said, “just a bit nervous.” Sweden nodded like he understood the younger nation.

“You will do fine”, he said, “they are not dangerous or evil people.” 

“I know”, Iceland muttered, “I just want to give a good advice.” Sweden nodded again, but didn’t say anything. After few moments Iceland felt a hand on his shoulder and somehow it was more comforting than any words could have been. 

He still felt nervous when they stepped in the meeting room where most of the participants were already seated and waiting for the meeting to start. Iceland and Sweden had made a quick stop at the Swede’s home and dressed up with suits they usually used when having meetings with politicians. They didn’t talk, but Sweden stayed right next to him all the time until it was Iceland’s turn to speak. Seeing the room had made him somehow more relaxed. After all, the situation was familiar though everybody was speaking Swedish instead of Icelandic, that Iceland was more used to hear in meetings. 

He did his part when the time came. He knew his advice wasn’t glorious or changing the world or anything super different, but the people were listening him and he saw some nods and appreciating looks, though he had to admit that some of them seemed to be a bit unsure. He guessed that also the fact that he was Iceland and not Sweden, might be affecting his words and the way how they took it. Still, he survived and when he took his seat again, Sweden nodded.

“Well done”, the Swedish nation grunted and suddenly Iceland was so proud of himself. 

Later they had a lunch at a small restaurant that apparently was one of Sweden’s favourites in Stockholm. Iceland had found the food a bit too spicy for his taste, but it was still good food and he loved to have something to eat after being nervous most of the day. A sunny Friday had lured lot of people outside and Sweden seemed to spend most of the time just looking at them and thinking something. It took a while until Iceland interrupted his thoughts.

“Sví?” he said and the man turned to look at him.

“Ja?”

“Can I ask something?” since he had started to study and therefore hang out more with humans, some questions and thoughts have been popping up in his mind more often. 

“Sure”, Sweden said.

“Do you like to be a personification?” Iceland asked. He knew that he didn’t need to explain his question. Every one of them thought about it sometime, though it was almost a taboo among the nations to say it out loud. 

“Yes”, Sweden replied without hesitation. Iceland watched how the people walked by, some of them alone but some with friends or family. Some kids were playing and a group of teenagers were clustered together while adults walked by on their way to wherever they needed to be.

“Sometimes I wonder”, Sweden suddenly continued, “if it would be nice to grow old. I would marry Fin, have kids with him and build own house somewhere between lake and forest. He would sing when the weather is good and I would keep him happy and save. We could grow old together and be laid rest next to each other when the time comes.”

“Sounds nice”, Iceland muttered, but the Sweden wasn’t ready yet.

“I did wonder about it”, he said with almost too serious tone, “but after all the years and fights I realized that I finally have what I want. I have a house built between lake and forest, Finland is with me and I have you as my family so all I am missing is growing old and dying.”

“We will probably die someday”, Iceland murmured and Sweden nodded.

“True”, he said, “it only takes a while longer.”

“So only thing missing is having kids and….”, Iceland paused and frowned slightly, “wait, does Fin sing?”

“He does”, Sweden replied and his lips turned a bit to something that represented a smile, “but not when somebody is listening. I have to sneak to hear him sing.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered and tried to not think how it was possible that such a tall man like Sweden could sneak anywhere without being noticed, “so only kids. That wouldn’t be possible anyway, because you are both males. You can adopt but not to make kids of your own.” Sweden shrugged and looked slightly amused before he replied.

“It might be so”, he said with a completely normal tone, “but we can keep trying.” It took a moment for Iceland to understand what the man meant, and when he did, he blushed slightly.

“Sví!” he said and almost knocked his empty coffee cup down from the table, “you… That was something the Dane would say!”

“Hm”, Sweden muttered, “I have spent too much time in his land then.” He didn’t seem to be sorry about it and Iceland wondered why he had ever thought that Sweden was the only sensible member of his family. He had been wrong, because they were all crazy idiots.

“We should go”, Sweden said after a brief silence, “so we will not miss our flight back to Copenhagen.”

“Oh, true”, Iceland said and realized the clock was more than he had thought, “you are coming back too? I thought you would stay here now that your turn is over.” Sweden gave him a long look, which didn’t really tell what he was thinking about but Iceland got a feeling that he was wondering why the Icelander was asking such a question.  

“Finland is there”, he replied like that was his only reason to do anything.


	15. Higher Norwegian

_ Iceland looked around, his fur trimmed cape sweeping against the floor as he moved. He had a sword tied on his side, but he wasn’t going to need it. He only had to give the right orders for the men and women waiting for his word. The moment became longer as the Icelander tried to think up the solution. He could hear the enemy coming closer, the screams of falling men and fire going off while his lieges still calmly waited his order. He only had to find out what was the best way to go. There wasn’t time to think but still he couldn’t say anything. There was only one way…  _

_ “Congratulations”, Norway’s voice said and broke the silence, tough still nobody moved, “you got us killed.” _

_ “Nore…”, Iceland started to say and turned to look at the man who hadn’t been there a moment ago and was wearing strangely modern clothes that didn’t fit the medieval setting at all. Still he looked like he belonged right there. _

_ “You wait too long”, Norway noted and he snapped his fingers to take the spell down. Iceland felt the nauseating feeling of being sucked down and he closed his eyes. _

In the quiet room in Christiansborg, the sleeping Icelander gasped and jumped up. He looked around like he was expecting the danger being lurking close by. He only calmed down when he spotted his brother sitting on the chair. Iceland glanced at himself and it took a moment to remember what was true and what was not. He felt a small pain in his head warning him about the full headache he was going to experience soon.  

“Not so good?” he asked from his brother, “I died again, right?” Norway nodded, but he didn’t look too disappointed.

“You got still a bit farther this time”, he said, “you managed to avoid the first conflict, but you should learn to make your decisions faster.”

“How?” Iceland asked with a frustrated voice, “there are so many things I had to include. How can I make up any decisions?”

“You can not, but you will have to”, Norway replied and for a while Iceland hated his mysterious ways, “let’s try again.” Iceland quickly put his hands up before the Norwegian set his spell on him again. The magic was still making his head throb and he felt horrible.

“No”, he refused, “I can’t take anymore simulations today. I am sorry, Nore, but the spell makes me feel sick.” Norway stopped and looked over him before nodding shortly. He probably was aware of the magic’s side effects and saw the pained look on the Icelander’s face. 

“You are right”, he said, “I should not push you too much. Let’s have a lunch and after that I will have some paper work for you. We will continue with the project tomorrow morning.” Iceland groaned, but still nodded and attempted to get up. He had never believed that something so simple than laying down and being spelled would make him feel this tired, but it did. Still, Iceland couldn’t really say that he was surprised about the amount of the work his brother was making him to do. Norway was a strict and harsh teacher, but also efficient, and this wasn’t the first time Iceland was guided by him, though there had been decades since the last time Norway had teach him anything. 

This all had started on Monday. All the bad things always started on Mondays. 

My brother is a drama queen, Iceland had thought when he had been making his way to the work on Monday morning. After returning from Stockholm on previous Friday evening, he had been granted a free weekend which turned out to be mostly a normal one. Only weird thing had been that Norway was nowhere to be found. Usually that wouldn’t have worried Iceland at all, Norway had been able to survive all his life and disappearing for few days was not uncommon at all, but for some unknown reason he hadn’t take the Dane with him. That upset the said Dane a lot, though he still bravely kept going and refused to tell Iceland what was really going on. 

Then Monday morning came and the Dane disappeared too. For a lovely five minutes Iceland had felt nice and peaceful in the completely empty apartment and then his mood had turned worse when he spotted the paper on the fridge’s door.

_ Island, _

_ I hope you are ready for your week with me.  _

_ Your brother, _

 

  * __Norge__



 

_ :)  _

 

  * __Dan__



 

“Okay”, Iceland had muttered, “what is with these messages? Why can’t he just text or call me like normal humans…. Right, we are not humans.” He had dropped the piece of the paper on the pile of other, similar messages, grabbed his jacket and walked out. Norway hadn’t give him directions, but Iceland had guessed he would be in the same place where he had worked all these past months and if he wasn’t there, then it wasn’t Iceland’s fault if he didn’t find his brother. 

Iceland did find him, because Norway had been waiting him in Denmark’s office. When the Icelandic nation stepped inside, Norway had closed his laptop and stared at him. Iceland wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, so he simply stared back. Minutes went by with the brother nations staring each other without saying anything, but then Iceland turned away from the ice blue eyes.

“Leadership”, Norway said.

“What?”

“Leadership”, the man repeated, “I spent hours with wondering how could I bring you something new and complement the education I had given you before. I had many ideas in my mind but finally I decided that this specific topic would be the best and help you the most.” 

“So leadership”, Iceland murmured, “how you gonna teach that?”

“With magic”, Norway replied and smirked.

That had leaded them to this moment only three days later. Every day Norway used his magic to create an imaginary world for Iceland to play, or survive. The rules of this game were easy. He was the leader and only he could save everybody. His decisions and leading would either destroy the people following him or bring them to the happy ending. So far he had failed every single time, only getting a bit farther before he did a mistake that cost him everything. Norway never showed up in the spell, at least not before Iceland had failed, or tried to intervene anyway. He kept the magic going and took care that the spell ended before Iceland really felt the consequences of his bad decisions. 

Iceland slowly ate the soup that he had got for the lunch. Denmark was away, he had been missing since Monday, and so Iceland had nobody to make him a lunch. He had already decided that the Danish nation was much better with sandwiches than the people at canteen. Still, he wasn’t going to tell the Dane about that. It would be too embarrassing thing to admit. 

Norway was sitting opposite of him and reading a newspaper while eating his own lunch. Iceland saw his frown few times, but he was not sure if that was because of something he had read or he also thought that the paid lunch didn’t reach the standards set by Denmark. Iceland also had no clue where the Dane was, but Norway wasn’t worried at all so the Icelander guessed that everything was fine. For sure the Norwegian would do something if Denmark was really missing. 

“Are you ready?” Norway asked once Iceland placed his spoon into now empty bowl. He nodded and waited for the Norwegian to gather his belongings before they headed back to the room Norway had claimed for them. Iceland had no idea if he had actually asked for a permission to use it or if he had simply stepped in and decided it was his room now.  Anything was possible when it came to Norway. 

“Here is the work for this afternoon”, Norway noted and gave the Icelander some papers to be busy with. This part of their routine didn’t include any magic. Norway simply had to take care of his work and, unlike the Swede who had given all his work to Iceland, he needed some time for his own business. Still it didn’t mean that Iceland could have some free time. Norway wanted to keep him busy and so the Icelander had his own tasks to complete. 

First it had felt like Norway wasn’t following any logic with what he made the Icelander do when they were not playing with the magic. Most of the paperwork had nothing to do with leadership so it was clearly not a part of the main plan, and the topics varied from taxation to simply translating a document to another language. It took a good time for Iceland to realize that the Norwegian was testing him. He wanted to have an idea of how skilful the Icelander really was and if he still remembered the things he had learn as a young nation. After Iceland realized this, he took the paper work calmly and just did it all so well than he could. 

“Time to go home”, Norway muttered almost exactly at five a clock in afternoon. Iceland never saw him look at the clock but still he somehow seemed to know when it was time to stop working. The Icelander had stopped wondering his brother’s strange habits a long time ago, so he never questioned him. He only got up, made sure that he had everything with him and followed Norway to the Dane’s apartment that they currently called home.

Next morning they started again with the magic and the illusion the Norwegian was creating for Iceland. The start was always same and the whole spell felt like a highly developed video game with a possibility to change the plot by will. Iceland could feel the wind, sun and rain on his skin, he smelt the fire or food served to the imaginary people that he was supposed to lead and he heard even the soft sound of cat purring nearby. Only thing, that made it clear that this wasn’t the reality, was that he couldn’t feel pain. He realized it once when he fell down and touched a hot iron. Instead of smelling his burnt skin and feeling the hot pain, he felt like he was holding just a normal and cold piece of metal. Clearly Norway wasn’t going allow his magic to hurt his precious little brother, though otherwise his artificial reality was almost too true. 

Sometime it fascinated Iceland how much details Norway could bring to his spell. He thought it might have helped that the man was using his own memories, though Iceland couldn’t really place the happenings to any specific era. He knew that it wasn’t the modern times because of the lack of technology, but his best guess was that Norway had placed their little simulation game on 12 th or 13 th century. 

But no matter how beautiful the magic was, it annoyed the Icelander and after every fail he felt worse. It didn’t help at all that being under the spell for such a long time made his head throb and he felt sick and exhausted after every time. 

On his fourth try, and on fourth day of Norway’s week, Iceland almost cleared the situation he had failed with during the previous try. The enemy was coming closer, but he had earlier decided to order his troops to focus on archery instead of cavalry and that had given him a bit more time to think about his next step. Still, the time wasn’t enough and just when he was going to just do something, he saw Norway in the corner of his eye and the spell broke down.  

“Take a breath”, the Norwegian said and looked down to the Icelander who was lying on the couch and trying to get rid of the last pieces of the spells that still clung on him. It always made him feel confused when he was suddenly back to his own reality. For a moment he forgot who he was but luckily the memories returned on their right places just after few seconds.

“What did I wrong this time?” he asked, “I was deciding!” 

“I know”, Norway replied calmly, “but you did few risky things earlier and those caused your failing.”

“So what I have to do otherwise?” Iceland asked, but Norway shook his head.

“That you should figure out by yourself”, he said like he had said every time Iceland tried to get clear answers out of him. Feeling frustrated the Icelander groaned and kicked a pillow few times to help him to keep his temper down. Norway didn’t seem to care about his brother’s confused feelings because he kept his calm look.

“I will have a long meeting this afternoon and evening”, he said suddenly, “and that means that you will have the rest of the day free. We will try again tomorrow.”

“But that will be the last day”, Iceland noted.

“I know”, Norway replied and walked to the desk where he kept his laptop and other belongings, “you will figure it out.”

“Or fail like every single time before”, Iceland muttered. He really didn’t like their game and still he hoped to survive it without failing. It had become a question of proudness. He needed to prove himself.  

“We will see”, Norway said still with his calm voice and he threw his back on his shoulder, “I will meet you at morning. Tell my greetings to Dan.”

“Sure, okay”, Iceland muttered almost angrily, “wait, Dan is not… Oh, whatever.” Norway had already left so quietly the Icelander collected his things and started to make his way to home. It was raining that day and even the ten minute walk was enough to soak him. The already too familiar headache wasn’t helping at all and when he got inside the apartment, he felt so bad that he kicked the door shut a bit too hard.

“Is, don’t break my place”, Denmark said and his smile faded only a bit when he saw the wet, cold and miserable Icelander giving him a bad look, “oh, um, let’s get you some dry clothes. Have you eaten yet? I was just making some lunch and there is enough for you. Wanna have something hot to drink too?” Iceland didn’t feel like he wanted to speak so he only nodded and sniffed because the water dripping from his hair onto his face was tickling his nose. He didn’t know how it was possible to feel so cold although it was a summer, but he was just glad that the Dane’s guardian instincts kicked in and Iceland soon found himself sitting on the couch wrapped in blanket, a mug of hot chocolate in his hands and dry clothes on. Denmark sat down next to him and sipped his own drink while waiting that the food would be ready.

“Where have you been all week?” Iceland asked after a while. He had been feeling so miserable that he had actually forgot to be surprised about the Dane showing up now after his four days long and unexplained disappearance.  

“Hm, just around”, Denmark replied with a smile, “you will find out next week.”

“Oh, great”, Iceland muttered.

“How is your week with Nor going on?”

“Horribly”, Iceland replied and Denmark took a sip of his drink before saying anything.

“How so?” he asked.

“I just fail every time”, Iceland muttered, “and that stupid spell is making me feel sick.” Denmark nodded and somehow Iceland guessed he already knew what Norway was making him to do. That wasn’t really surprising as those two nations spent lot of time together. 

“I am sure you are doing much better than you think”, Denmark noted, “Nor just likes to make people work under pressure. He thinks it brings the best out of everybody.” 

“Doesn’t work me”, Iceland said, “I just feel bad.”

“It is okay, Is”, the Dane said and ruffled the younger nation’s almost dry hair. Iceland sighed and focused on his drink for a moment. Denmark had added some mint in it and he liked the refreshing taste.

“Hey, Dan”, he said after a while, “you used to rule over us all, right?” Actually that topic was forbidden among the Nordics, but Iceland knew Denmark wasn’t so sensitive about it anymore. The numerous years going past had helped him to get over of most of the bad memories, though Iceland still saw some pain in his eyes when he turned slightly away.

“Yeah”, the Dane muttered, “I made some horrible decisions and pretty much fucked up it all. You know, you were there too.” Iceland nodded. He had been just a kid during that time and his protective brother had shielded him away from most of it, but he still remembered some feelings, yelled words and fights that had started just before Norway tugged him away. 

“I am sorry about asking this”, Iceland murmured, “but what would you do differently now?” Denmark went quiet and for a while Iceland though he was upset. He was already reaching for the man and going to change the topic quickly but then Denmark spoke again.

“I would try to listen to others”, he said with a strangely serious tone, “that stupid Swede actually has some pretty good ideas sometimes. Then I would try to make up my solutions by thinking about you guys more. It was never a good idea to try to separate Sve and Fin or try to protect Nor by pushing him to the side. I would have done so much better if I just thought about you a bit more. Oh, and less fighting too. My biggest mistake was to try to win with the axe every single time.” Iceland nodded quietly.

“How you know how to lead?” he asked and this time Denmark replied right away.

“I don’t really know”, he said and smiled softly, “there is so many ways and none of them is the best. You just have to do shit and hope that it works. There will be mistakes, but mistakes are just a way to learn... Oh, I think the lunch is ready! Wait here, I’ll get you some.” The Dane jumped up and smiled like nothing was wrong. He almost knocked his mug down from the table but managed to catch it just in time. He marched into the kitchen and after while Iceland heard him humming some summer song. It sometime amazed him how Denmark was able to go from total seriousness to his normal happy-go-lucky attitude in few seconds.

“I see”, the Icelander murmured and started to once again think how he was going to beat the game Norway was creating for him. He wasn’t sure about it, but he felt like he should try something completely different.  Only problem was to figure out exactly what that different should be.

The Friday morning came surprisingly fast and once again Iceland found himself laying on the couch and staring up to the ceiling while he waited for Norway’s magic to work. This time Denmark was in the room too, but he was way too busy with his work so he wasn’t talking much. 

“So, Island”, Norway’s calm voice said just when Iceland felt the spell coming over him and tugging his mind, “this will be the last try. Good luck.” Iceland nodded sleepily and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw the already familiar forest around him. He knew how the game would start so he got up quickly. There wasn’t much time to waste if he wanted to carry out his new plan.

The thing was that he had focused too much on winning. He had only thought about making his group the best one, but maybe that wasn’t the way. Maybe he was supposed to make them survive, not to fight. Carefully the Icelander made his decisions and started to lead the group to another direction. The whole magical reality switched, following the mind of the Icelander as he tried to find the best way to ensure his group would survive till the end. He wasn’t sure if he had got farther or not. It was hard to say because everything had changed and he wasn’t following the same plot anymore. 

He was just trying to figure out how to ensure that his people would have enough food over the winter, when he saw Norway walking to him. He let a sigh and dropped the pen he had been holding. The ink made a mess, but he didn’t even notice.

“What I did wrong now?” he asked sadly. 

“Nothing really”, Norway replied and leaned his hip against the table, “we are simply reaching the limits of my magic so I have to call this off.” Iceland’s eyes widened for surprise and he stared at his brother like it was impossible to believe what he was saying.

“You mean that I passed this?” he asked, “I finally survived this game?”

“Well”, Norway said, “yes and no.”

“What the hell that means?”

“Language, Is”, Norway said, “it means that you learnt what I wanted you to learn. It’s impossible to make anybody to become a great leader only within one week, but you reached my goals and understood what I tried to tell you.”

“And that was…?”

“Don’t do stupid decisions and look out for the better possibilities”, the Norwegian explained, “I guess that talking with Dan gave you this idea?”

“Somehow yes”, Iceland replied with a nod. Norway was still keeping the spell up, but Iceland noticed that everything looked like the time had stopped. There was even some ink drops floating in air as the spell had paused just when they were going to fall from the table to the floor. 

“He really has lot of experience about the stupid decisions”, Norway noted, “well, I am proud of your, Is.”

“What?” Iceland asked and stared at his brother, “I failed almost every single time!”

“But you learnt”, Norway said, “and that was the idea. Nobody learns without failing. Lucky for us, we have lot of time to use for failing.” Iceland sighed, but he didn’t feel so frustrated anymore. He was sure he would never completely figure out his brother’s ways, but he had had time to get used for it. 

“About having lot of time”, he said, “do you like to be a personification?” He had asked the same question from Sweden and somehow he felt that he should be fair and ask them all. Norway gave him an observing look and nodded then.

“I wondered if that question would come up now that you spend more time with humans”, he noted, “and yes. I do not regret anything or feel shame about what I am. It is my responsibility to exist until last of my people takes their last breath.”

“You made it sound like a work”, Iceland noted. Norway chuckled softly and reached to ruffle the Icelander’s hair.

“It’s a work” he said, “but I have you all around to make it to be also a life.”

“Nore…”

“Time to return to our reality”, Norway cut him off and Iceland snorted when he realized that his brother simply wanted to avoid this emotional moment. The environment around them faded with the magic and Iceland felt himself falling once again.

“Great, you are back!” Denmark said when Iceland opened his eyes and saw the man leaning over the back rest and staring at him, “you were away so long that I was sure you will get messed up and never come back.” Iceland blinked and wondered what the Dane meant, but before he had a chance to ask, Norway started to speak.

“I told you that there is no risk for that happening”, he said, “I will not spell my little brother if there is even a slightest possibility of his mind getting lost in the magic.”

“Yeah, but you said it can happen”, Denmark noted.

“Yes, to humans”, Norway replied and Iceland turned his head to see the Norwegian calmly standing only in small distance from him, “we are personifications. Our minds work differently.” Iceland turned back to the Dane who was still looking at him and grinned when he got an eye contact. 

“He means that we are the crazy people”, the man said.

“I mean that we are made to handle the idea of the time and reality differently because our minds have to be able to adjust also to the situations the humans will never be able to survive from or understand”, Norway explained, “how else you think we can die, come back and still be able to live on like nothing happened?”

“Jep, crazy people”, Denmark nodded. 

“You mean that I could have got stuck in that magic reality?” Iceland asked.

“No”, Norway said and sighed, “do you really think I would use all of this time and energy to only get you stuck?”

“Once you…”

“Shut up, Dan.” Denmark grinned but closed his mouth.

“Okay, so it was completely safe”, Iceland muttered and grimaced when he felt the first warning of on-coming headache, “nice to know.”

“Yes”, Norway said and his eyes softened a bit when he looked at the Icelander, “well, my week is now over. You can have a free weekend before Dan has his turn.”

“Super”, Iceland said and silently decided to have a lot of sleep. He was slightly afraid of what Denmark was going to throw at him so it was better to be at least fully restored before that.

“We should go for a weekend trip!” Denmark declared happily, “I spoke with Fin one evening and he said he had never seen Andersen’s house! We have to fix that.” The Dane looked excited and when Iceland saw that, he realized that there would not be so much sleep for him after all. 


	16. Higher Danish

It turned out that Iceland didn’t have so much time for sleeping during the weekend. After Finland had admitted that he hadn’t visited all the places that Denmark claimed to be the must-to-visit, the Danish nation made sure the Finn would never miss anything again. Of course Swede, who didn’t really like the idea of Finland and Denmark traveling around together, joined in too. He knew that those two most active Nordic nations had a bad habit to get into drinking if they were alone for too long and the Swede wanted to make sure Finland wouldn’t get lost or in any troubles. As three out of the five Nordics were already going, Norway didn’t see any reason to not travel too and that made the Icelander join in because he didn’t want to be “that guy” who stayed at home when others went to have fun. 

After they had made few stops around Denmark’s land, Iceland started to wonder if Finland was planning something. He always mentioned a place and claimed that he had never been there, which made the excited Dane to take everybody there right away. Because his land wasn’t too big, they managed to see a lot during two days and have fun as playing tourists. Still, Iceland got a feeling that it was all too planned. Finland seemed to pick up random places but they were always quite close and it seemed like they were following a logical order. Norway also got suspicious, but Finland still claimed with a smile that he didn’t have any ulterior motives. The brother nations asked Sweden too, but the man was utterly loyal to Finland and only shrugged after the questions and kept his mouth shut. 

They returned to the Danish capital on late Sunday evening, still not knowing if Finland was plotting something or not. That was slightly worrying, but Iceland had also other things to think about so he pushed it out of his mind. He walked to the Dane who had settled down in the living room and was watching football with a beer in one hand and another resting on the pillow he had placed on his lap.

“Dan”, Iceland said to get the Dane’s attention, “what we are going to do tomorrow.” The Dane turned slightly to give him a smirk.

“Stuff”, he replied and almost laughed at the Icelander’s annoyed look.

“How I know where I have to be or when we are going to start?” he asked, but the Dane had apparently decided to be difficult and not give any clear answers. 

“You will notice it”, he said.

“But…”

“It’s a football evening, Is”, Denmark said with slightly whining tone, “I am trying to watch the match. My team might win this one.” Iceland took a look at the television and frowned.

“Isn’t this a replay?” he asked.

“I am not listening to you”, Denmark replied and took a sip of his beer. Iceland rolled his eyes and decided to try another way. He was sure that his brother hadn’t left the apartment and soon he found the man in the bedroom, lounging on the bed and reading the book he had started earlier during their trip around Denmark’s land. He had two pillow tugged under his head and shoulders. His bare feet tapped the mattress and he had taken his hair pin off, making his hair looks slightly messier than usually.

“Nore”, Iceland said from the door, “do you know what Dan has been planning for his week?”

“Yes”, Norway replied without taking his eyes off the book.

“Can you tell me about it?” The Icelander asked. 

“No”, Norway said and turned the page. Iceland was getting frustrated because the secrets.

“Brother”, he said and this time Norway did glance up at him.

“I am sorry, Is”, he said, “I promised I will not tell you and if I break that promise, I’ll have to kiss him in front of my royal family next time they are having a party. I prefer to keep my kisses private so you will not hear anything from me.”

“I don’t think a kiss is so bad.”

“It has to be the kind of kiss that makes movie ratings go up”, Norway said calmly, “so I will keep my information to myself.”

“You are evil”, Iceland commented, “I will go to sleep.”

“And proud of it”, Norway replied without any hesitation, “while you at that, could you be nice and you tell Dan that I like his pillow and it’s now mine.” Iceland rolled his eyes, but nodded.

“Dan! Nore has stolen your pillow!” he yelled.

“It’s okay!” Denmark yelled back, “I will just use him as a pillow!”

“Okay, goodnight everybody”, Iceland said quickly and retreated to his own room before Norway would make him reply to the Dane. He was happy about their relationship but he didn’t want to be in middle of it. 

Next morning he woke up in the empty apartment once again. He frowned after realizing that other two Nordics were gone, and wondered if this was becoming a habit that they just left without waking him up first. 

He wandered to the kitchen and frowned again when he didn’t spot any normal messages on the fridge’s door. Usually they left him something and Iceland had expected at least some kind of instructions on what he should do. Still, there was no note and he didn’t find any even after checking the floor in case the paper had slipped down. He was clueless about what to do, but after few minutes of wondering he decided that it was best to just go to the office around the time they usually did. Even if Denmark wanted to be annoyingly mysterious, Iceland could keep on the routines. 

His plan worked fine until he got kidnapped only half hour later while he was on way to the Denmark’s work place. Iceland was listening music while he walked and the small earphones blocked the noise of cars and other traffic quite well. He didn’t even notice anything weird until he saw quick movements in the corner of his eye and strong arms lifted him up. Iceland was fully grown, though his body looked approximately like sixteen years old, and he had always thought nobody could just lift him up and carry away. Unfortunately, he had never thought about some ex-viking who believed kidnapping other nations was a nice way to spend some time. 

Iceland had just time to realize that the Dane was holding him and then he was pushed in the on the back seat. He frowned as Denmark run back to the driver’s side and drove off before anybody had time to do anything. He was grinning and laughing softly, while Iceland looked around and noted that at least the Dane had been right when he said Iceland would notice when they started the week. 

“What the hell, Dan?” he asked after they were almost out of the capital and the car’s speed was for sure more than was legally allowed.

“We are going for a field trip”, the Dane replied happily and smirked when Iceland gave him a long look through the mirror. 

“Dan.”

“What?”

“Why couldn’t you just tell me?” Iceland asked, “like normal persons do.”

“I thought about that”, Denmark admitted, “but it felt so much better to just surprise you!”

“By kidnapping me?” Iceland asked.

“Kidnapping sounds so horrible”, Denmark noted, “it has so bad echo and you are not even a kid.”

“So how you call this then?” Iceland said and gestured around. He knew it was Norway’s car, thought the Norwegian rarely left anything in his car and so it wasn’t easy to see which kind of person owned it. Still, Iceland had been in it enough times to recognize the car. 

“Nationsnatching!” Denmark yelled happily. Iceland stared at him and wondered why he had even asked. Denmark himself seemed to be proud of his idea and didn’t mind about its suspiciously non-legal side. Iceland wasn’t sure what would be safest thing to say next, but luckily his phone ringed and he didn’t need to think about it. He glanced at the screen and frowned when he saw the number he had used a lot just a few months back. This was first time they called him without being request to do so. Iceland got a bad feeling because of that, but all he could do was to pick up the call.

“Hi?” he said.

_ “Island?”  _ the familiar voice said and Iceland recalled that the woman’s name was Reynheiður.

“Yeah, it’s me”, he said, “is something wrong?”

_ “Our agents witnessed you being carried into a car and they were unsure about if you left willingly”,  _ the Icelandic woman said, “ _ are you in need of assistance?”  _ For while Iceland wondered what would happen if he said “yes”, but then his more responsible side reminded him that it wasn’t good idea to cause any kind of strange conflicts just now.

“No, I am fine”, he said, “Dan just thinks it’s fun to kidnap others.”

“Nationsnatch”, the Dane corrected loudly and Iceland rolled his eyes. 

_ “In that case we will not intervene”,  _ the woman said,  _ “please, warn the agents next time you will be willingly…. um, nationsnatched.”  _

“I wasn’t really planning this”, Iceland murmured and frowned then again, “wait, is there agents following me?”

_ “Yes” _

“Why?” Iceland asked, “I am not in danger and…”

_ “It’s a question of the national security, my nation”,  _ the woman said with so respectful voice than she could, “ _ the agents will follow you every time you are outside of your own borders.”  _

“I had no idea about that”, Iceland admitted and he could hear the woman hesitating briefly before replying.

_ “These operations are usually supervised and carried out by the agent Puffin”,  _ she said and Iceland let a sigh. Of course, he should have guessed.

“I’m gonna eat that bird when I get home”, he muttered.

_ “I am sorry?” _

“Nothing”, Iceland said, “I am not sure if I like to be followed.”

_ “I ensure that the agents are fully respecting your privacy and they will never do anything else than protect you.” _

“I am not really in need of protection”, Iceland noted, “I can’t even die and only one kidnapping me is an idiot Danish nation.”

“I don’t kidnap”, Denmark said, “I nationsnatch.”

“Whatever”, Iceland muttered to him. 

_ “I am sorry. If you wish to have the protocol changed, you will have to discuss about it with our leaders.” _

“Sure, okay”, Iceland muttered, “was that all?”

_ “Yes, have a pleasant day” _

“I will try”, Iceland muttered and gave yet another bad look at the Dane who didn’t even bother to notice it. Iceland sighed and stuffed his phone in the bag he had with him. Denmark seemed to spot the change on his mood and he glanced at him through the mirror.

“Was it your secret service?” he asked.

“Yeah. They got worried about me getting hurt”, Iceland replied, “and apparently there are agents following me around.”

“Yeah, humans are weird about it”, Denmark said and gave the Icelander a smile, “hey, if you want I can show how to get rid of people following you! It can be your extra-curriculum.”

“Get rid in which meaning?”

“Just getting them lost and annoyed so they stop trying to follow you”, Denmark said, “gosh, Is. I don’t kill people.”

“That is good to hear”, Iceland noted, “so, you had somebody following you too?”

“Of course I had!” Denmark said and laughed, “where you think I learnt all the tricks to keep the agents busy? Mine gave up with me in few years but that was enough time to have lot of fun.”

“Okay”, Iceland said, “did they follow Nore too?”

“You think anybody  _ dares _ to spy on Nor?” Denmark asked back. Iceland thought about it a moment and then shook his head. Norway would have no patience for anybody who tried to follow him around and watch him. That was of course what Denmark was often doing but he was the special case. 

“How about Fin and Sví?” Iceland asked and Denmark frowned slightly while thinking.

“I don’t think anybody follows Fin around”, he said after a while, “you know, he got a bit crazy about that kind of stuff after he got independence. So I guess that means nobody follows Sve either, as they are all the time together and Fin threats to shoot anybody who is spying around. He really hates that.”

“Okay”, Iceland murmured and frowned when he heard a muffled sound that reminded him about some theme songs of children TV-shows, “is that your phone?”

“Yeah!” Denmark confirmed after listening for a while, “could you take it and switch to speaker? Nor saw me once crashing a bike when I was driving with only one hand and he had forbidden me to drive his car while speaking to phone.” Iceland snorted, but reached over to take the phone Denmark had left on another front seat. He didn’t bother to check the caller-ID before sliding his finger over the green mark on the screen.

_ “Mister Danmark?”  _ a voice said before the nations had time to react. Iceland didn’t recognize it, but he knew it was a human man and probably somebody Denmark knew as the human had used the nation name.

“Yeah, hi!” Denmark replied and glanced at the Icelander, “it’s my security boss. He takes care all the stuff is safe.”

“ _ Is there any chance that you had committed a kidnapping about 40 minutes ago at the centrum on Copenhagen?”  _ The human asked without caring about the nation’s comment about his work.

“Yeah, might be”, Denmark replied, “I think it was 42 minutes ago and it’s not technically kidnaping. He came willingly.”

“I did not”, Iceland muttered.

_ “Please, do not do this again in future”,  _ the human said with a deep sigh,  _ “we had ten people calling the officers and three more reporting a car driving over limits. Also, there had been small panicking and the media is demanding information.” _

“But this is what I have been always doing”, Denmark complained, “it is my legacy!”

_ “We have been speaking about this”,  _ the human said, “ _ you can do this kind of things in Jutland but not in middle of our capital.” _

“But…”

“ _ No buts”,  _ the man said sternly and Iceland got a feeling that this was far from the first time Denmark got this kind of calls, “ _ what would our neighbours say if they know you kidnap other nations from the street?” _

“Well, Nor knows about this so he would be ok-ish”, Denmark argued, “Sve doesn’t speak anyway and who cares what he thinks? Germany doesn’t want to know anything or get involved.”

_ “Still, try to keep this down”,  _ the human said,  _ “we don’t need a full panic.”  _ Denmark seemed to be ashamed for a moment, but he only nodded and got his normal grin quickly back on.

“Okay”, he said, “I understand. Next time I will take my victims to backwoods before snatching them away.”

_ “That sounds much better”,  _ the human noted and seemed to be completely okay with his nation’s questionable hobbies, “ _ I hope this will be the last time I have to call you about this.” _

“You can always hope!” Denmark replied and they managed just hear a small sigh before the human ended the call. Iceland dropped the phone back on the seat and glanced out of the window. He saw that they had left the city behind, but he didn’t notice anything that would have told him exactly where they were. He still trusted that Denmark probably knew their location. 

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“I already told you”, Denmark said, “we are going for a field trip!”

“That doesn’t say much”, Iceland complained.

“Do you really want to spoil the surprise?”

“Yes.” Denmark gave him a look and pouted slightly. 

“Well, if you want to be like that”, he said with half mocking and half complaining tone, “I decided that I will show you how the humans do so we are going to join them every day.”

“It only helps if I know what I am supposed to do”, Iceland muttered, “what you mean by that?”

“I have organized some work for us”, Denmark replied, “just normal human work. Today we are going to a farm. They have animals there.” Iceland stared at him like he couldn’t believe what he had heard. 

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah”, Denmark replied with a nod.

“We are just gonna work with humans?”

“Yeah”, the Dane repeated, “what is so weird about that?”

“Nothing”, Iceland muttered, “I just… I thought you would come up with something more… extreme.” Denmark chuckled and nodded.

“I tried”, he said, “I had so many cool ideas! You know, I never had time to teach you all my fighting tricks and the honourable Viking habits. So I was just planning to continue where we left of hundred years ago, but then Nor said he does not approve it so I had to come up with something else.” 

“Nore didn’t approve?” Iceland asked. He had thought the Norwegian would be thrilled to get him join in their old ways. 

“Well”, Denmark said, “I kind of planned to teach you the same way I learnt everything.”

“Which is?”

“Leave you alone in small island and see if you manage”, Denmark admitted.

“Dan!”

“What? It is a good way to learn!” the older nation said, “I wouldn’t have leaved you  _ completely  _ alone anyway. And Nor said no.”

“I am very happy that at least he has some sense”, Iceland muttered. Denmark shrugged and focused more on driving. He seemed to be looking for a right turn and smiled after he spotted it. 

“We are almost there”, he said, “just few minutes more. Are you ready?”

“I guess I am”, Iceland replied dryly. 

Iceland never found out what kind of lies Denmark had told the humans to get them in, but it had to be something that made sense, because nobody was questioning them or acting suspiciously. Actually it seemed like they simply accepted the two nations among them and some of them even showed some enthusiasm while explaining how the work at the farm was supposed to be done. It might have been also part of Denmark’s natural charm, but Iceland got an honest feeling that nobody minded about them.

Working in the farm was for sure completely different work from what Iceland had got used for. Of course he had done more physical work during his early days without high technology, but after all these decades it felt refreshing to do something that only required his hands and some attention. Also, it was hilarious to see Denmark running around a group of piglets after him. For some reason they were attracted to the Danish nation who did his best to escape while Iceland and the farm hands laughed. 

After the day Iceland was exhausted from all the work and he knew he had the smell of sweat and animals on him, but he didn’t really mind. It even calmed him somehow. 

“Just half an hour till home”, Denmark noted. Iceland, who was now sitting on the front seat, nodded and yawned. All the fresh air had made him tired.  

“Great”, he mumbled. They had stayed at the farm for dinner and his belly was still full and, though he felt his muscles hurting and he knew he would be stiff next day, he was relaxed and satisfied. 

“Did you like it?” Denmark asked.

“Huh?” Iceland asked and Denmark laughed at his sleepy voice.

“The work. Did you like it?” he asked again. 

“Yeah”, Iceland mumbled, “it was nice. The piglets were funny.”

“One bit me”, Denmark said and caressed the mark on his hand. It was fading already but still visible enough to be spotted easily even from small distance. 

“That’s why it was funny”, Iceland noted, “Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“What I am supposed to learn from this?” Iceland asked, but Denmark didn’t reply. He only smiled and shrugged. Iceland waited him to reply but the exhaustion was finally taking over and he fell asleep before he got the answer.

On Tuesday morning Iceland waked up for the coffee machine’s familiar voice. He groaned while stretching his arms and legs so well than he could. He dressed up and walked out his room to see if Norway was ready to share the morning coffee with him. 

“Morning”, Norway murmured when he spotted the Icelander, “how was your Monday?” The Norwegian had been already sleeping when they had arrived back home.

“Great”, Iceland replied, “did you already heard about the piglet that bit Dan?” Norway chuckled and nodded.

“Yes”, he said, “took me fifteen minutes to make him admit how he got that bite mark.” Iceland nodded and went for the coffee. He didn’t always have it for breakfast, but now he felt like the hot liquid might help him to start the day.

“Where he is anyway?” he asked.

“Outside”, Norway replied, “doing something with my car.” 

“Okay”, Iceland muttered. He enjoyed these mornings when he didn’t need to say much. Norway was always calm and quiet and wasn’t expecting any conversation this early, which made the Iceland secretly cherish these early moments with his brother. The silence didn’t fade until they heard the door open and the Dane coming in. 

“Good morning!” he yelled and smiled, “Is, are you ready?” Iceland glanced at his cup and nodded after finding out that he had drank the coffee already. 

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“To shop”, Denmark replied simply and smirked before he grabbed the Icelander by the waist and threw him over his shoulder. Iceland let a yelp and tried to get out of the hold, but Denmark was much stronger than him. 

“Dan!”

“Stop wriggling so I don’t drop you”, the Dane said with a laugh in his voice, “let’s go then!” Iceland sighed, but stopped fighting against the man. He swore quietly that he would start to work out so he would get more muscles and weight. Then the Dane wouldn’t be able to pick him up anymore. 

“Dan”, Norway said and Iceland hoped that his brother would order the Dane to let him go. His hopes were crushed when Denmark turned around.

“Oh, sorry”, he said and walked back to the Norwegian, “goodbye kiss first.” Iceland could hear Norway chuckling, but he couldn’t see what happened because he was awkwardly hanging on the Dane, his face against the man’s back. 

“Have fun”, Norway said when Denmark turned again to walk out. Iceland made sure to give his brother a bad look but Norway just answered with a smirk and small wave. 

“Dan, I can walk too”, Iceland said when Denmark didn’t put him down even when almost running down the stairs.

“Yeah, I have seen you doing that” the man replied, “but doesn’t it feel nostalgic to be snatched by a Viking again?”

“I was never snatched by Viking so no”, Island replied and added after brief thinking, “Finland was. He was only one who had that coming.”

“Really?” Denmark said, “damn, well, then this is the memorable first time!” 

“Great”, Iceland said and didn’t sound at all like he meant that. Denmark set him down when they were next to car and the Icelander was allowed to go in by himself. He waited that the Dane took his place behind the steering wheel. 

“So?”

“You will see just in twenty minutes”, Denmark replied with knowing what the Icelander was annoying about the lack of the information. Almost exactly twenty minutes later Iceland found out that Denmark had meant it literally when he said that they were going to shop. Only that they were not going to get anything, almost exactly opposite actually. 

During next seven hours Iceland learnt what it meant to work for retail. He also realized that it wasn’t a good job for him and if he would ever be fired from his position of being a nation, which was luckily almost impossible, he would never consider getting a job in the shop. He would rather move in with Norway and let him support him.  

But no matter how much Iceland hated the job, Denmark seemed to find his calling once again. He was chatting with the customers, charming all the ladies no matter of the age, and being friendly with kids. Iceland didn’t understand how he did that but the shop manager quickly saw the potential and made sure Denmark had always something to do in the place where the customers were. Iceland, in other hand, just stocked the shelves and cleaned place like he was ordered to do.

“How is it going?” Denmark asked while they were having a break. Iceland shrugged and looked around quickly to make sure they were alone. 

“It’s ok”, he said, “but I liked yesterday better.”

“Yeah”, Denmark muttered, “but at least that damn piglet is not here.”

“True”, Iceland said and let a small smirk appeared on his lips, “though I wonder if I should tell Nore about your fan club.”

“My fan club?” Denmark asked and sounded honestly confused.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t notice those people hanging around you without any real reason?” Iceland asked. During the few hours he had noticed that some people seemed to linger around the Dane, lured there by the Denmark’s natural charm. Denmark probably didn’t mean it but he just attracted people with his honest smile and easy going attitude. 

“Oh, those”, Denmark said and tilted his head like he was confused, “you mean that they all just didn’t forgot to pick up something and came back for it?”

“Definitely not”, Iceland replied, “nobody does that three times in row.”

“Great”, the Dane said, “I was getting worried about my people and their memory skills.”

“Should you be worried about Nore getting jealous?” Iceland asked, but Denmark shook his head. 

“He knows he is my only one”, he replied, “and how could any human or nation compare to that amazing man? He is so handsome and brave and amazing and hot and…”

“I got your point!” Iceland hurried to say. He knew the Dane was almost obsessed about his brother, but he didn’t need to listen to the long list of reasons. Luckily Denmark stopped speaking and grinned before continued enjoying his lunch. When they got back to work, Denmark to learn how to operate the cash machine and Iceland stocking shelves, the Icelander decided to let his brother to know anyway.

_ Is: Hej Nore. Dan is getting popular around here. _

_ Nor: How so? _

_ Is: There are lot of people just hanging around him. _

_ Nor: Are they trying to engage in any kind of human courting ritual? _

_ Is: ….I think so? _

_ Is: The humans. Not Dan. He thought they all have problems with memory because they keep coming back here. _

_ Nor: I see. _

_ Nor: I should lock him up somewhere, should I? _

_ Is: That would keep others away. _

_ Is: And I bet he wouldn’t even mind. _

_ Nor: True, and I could take care of anything he need. _

_ Is: Are we planning to lock up Dan for real? _

_ Nor: Depends on if you are going to help me. _

_ Is: I will not. _

_ Nor: Pity. _

_ Nor: I have to do this in another way then. _

_ Is: What you mean? _

_ Is: Nore? _

_ Is: ? _

After being left on “read” on his third message, Iceland shrugged and decided that it wasn’t so important. Norway wouldn’t do anything crazy anyway. That kind of acting was only for Denmark and occasionally for Finland. However, Iceland still frowned when he saw his brother stepping in the shop. Norway was wearing the casual clothes he sometime used when he was working, and he had shades on his eyes. 

“Hey”, he said after spotting the Icelander, “where is he?”

“I think somewhere over there giving away some samples”, Iceland replied and pointed at the back of the shop. He didn’t need to ask who the Norwegian meant. It was quite clear thing.

“Thank you”, Norway said and smirked slightly before walking to the direction the Icelander had pointed to him. Iceland wondered if he should go to witness what was going to happen, but after brief thinking he decided that organizing cereal boxes was way more interesting than seeing how Norway handled Denmark’s fan club. He knew the results anyway, because soon he saw already familiar looking people walking out and some of them were utterly disappointed. 

“I thought you don’t like to show your love in public”, Iceland commented when a slightly smug looking Norwegian walked past again after few minutes.

“That is correct”, he said.

“So what you did to upset so many people at once?” Iceland asked and raised his brow. 

“I did not need to do anything”, Norway replied and could barely hide the satisfaction in his voice, “those people are not stupid. Only thing that happened was me showing up to exchange few words with the Dane and they connected all the pieces together rather quickly.”

“Aha”, Iceland muttered, but was still looking at his brother suspiciously, “you should get better hobbies.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about”, Norway skilfully pretended, “see you later, Is.”

“Sure”, Iceland murmured and returned to his boring job while Norway left. Few minutes passed calmly as Iceland put the stuff on right places and wondered how anybody wanted to do such a boring, though also important. job. How else they would get food if somebody didn’t take care there was something in the shop? Iceland might have been almost immortal personification, but that didn’t mean he was eager to return to times when everybody either starved or hunted own food. 

“Hey, Is”, Denmark said and almost startled the Icelander, “did you saw that damn hot Norwegian who walked out just a moment ago?” Iceland halted, his arm reaching half way to the next box and he took a deep breath before he was ready to answer for the Dane who was grinning. 

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that question”, he said slowly, “or wait. Even better. Let’s pretend that you never asked that question.” Denmark laughed, but luckily for Iceland the rest of the day went by without any other incidents. They returned to home just in time for dinner and Iceland tried to persuade the Dane to reveal their task for next day but Denmark was stubborn about that and didn’t slip anything.  

On Wednesday Iceland woke up when a heavy cloth was wrapped around him and arms yanked him up from the bed. Iceland yelped and did the first thing anybody would do when somebody woke them up with so brutal style. He kicked hard. 

“Oomph”, Denmark said, but somehow didn’t drop the Icelander, “Nor! He kicked me!”

“I warned you about that”, Norway replied calmly and Iceland tried to plead him for help, but the cloth around his head was muffling all the sound he could do. 

“I thought you said he _might_ _bite_ ”, Denmark noted.

“He does that too”, Norway replied, “honestly, Dan, have you ever got any positive replies after waking somebody up like that?”

“Um”, Denmark hesitated, “does it count that once you knocked that hurting tooth out of my mouth? Because I kind of felt better once that was gone.” 

“No.”

“Then no”, the Dane said.

“I think you should let Island go now”, Norway noted, “I will be very unhappy if he suffocates.” Iceland was released and the first thing he did was to push the cloth off himself and give the Dane so bad look than he could. Then he spared one for his brother too, because Norway hadn’t helped him. Actually the Norwegian man was only leaning against the door frame and eating cookie.

“I hate you both”, Iceland declared.

“No, you do not”, Norway said, “and I did not do anything.”

“Yeah, you didn’t help”, Iceland said dryly.

“I apologize”, Norway said, “Dan bribed me with a cookie.” 

“It’s a good cookie”, Denmark noted with a smile, “you can have some too, Is!” Iceland was still giving them bad looks, but it didn’t seem to be so effective strategy.

“It better be the best in world”, he muttered.

“I promise”, Denmark said, “you think only an average cookie can be used to bribe Nor? No, it has to be a special cookie, made with pure love and gentle thoughts.”

“That is true”, Norway commented and Denmark gave him a wink. Iceland was still suspicious. 

“Come on, Is”, the Dane said after noticing the younger nation’s disbelieve, “just put those clothes on and come for breakfast. We have 45 minutes.” Iceland rolled his eyes but took a closer look on the clothes Denmark had used to wrap him. He quickly realized it was a uniform and he gave the Dane a confused look after noticing the logo sewed on it.

“Isn’t DSB your railway company?” he asked and Denmark nodded happily, “you don’t mean that…?”

“Oh yes”, Denmark replied with a wide grin. 

That was how Iceland found himself almost exactly 45 minutes later standing next to a train. It was one of those modern ones with all the comfortable services and occasionally working WiFi. He still didn’t know what kind of lies Denmark told people, but those had to be good ones because even now nobody had questioned them. Actually people have been acting like it was completely normal to have them around and they had got their schedule and all. For sure Iceland hoped this wasn’t the normal way to hire more train drivers, because he would have been worried about the Danes if it was. 

“Are you sure?” he asked when the Dane stepped in the driver’s place and started to prepare the train. Surprisingly he seemed to know what he was doing and there was no hesitation on his movements. 

“Yep”, he said. Iceland hadn’t seen their route yet, but he assumed that Denmark knew where the train was supposed to go.

“How?” he asked. Denmark glanced at him and pushed few more buttons before he turned to give the Icelander a smirk.

“Don’t worry, Is”, he said, “I know how to drive a train.”

“I am gonna ask again”, Iceland said, “ _ how?” _

“I went to school for that”, Denmark replied and paused for a while to listen the information coming from the walkie-talkie, “I have a license and all. I sometime take routes to help out on busy days.”

“But Dan”, Iceland said, “I have seen you crashing with a bike several times, how can you handle a whole train?” Denmark smirked and shortly replied to the orders coming from the little machine. The train started to move forward.

“Well”, he said, “the trains stay on tracks, you know.”

“Goodness”, Iceland muttered, “maybe it is good that this train already looks like it was drove against a wall.” The train indeed had a front that reminded Iceland about something that had been throw on the wall. 

“Hey, she has feelings!”

“She is a train!” Denmark ignored him and focused on driving the train. They had started from the parking area so the next station would be the first on their route. Iceland recognized the main station of Copenhagen easily and he glanced around from the small window to see all the people more and less patiently waiting for the train to stop. Iceland didn’t know if he should do something, but so far Denmark hadn’t say anything about that and he seemed to be able to handle everything.

“Is everybody in?” he asked and Iceland took a look outside, noticing that the platform was now empty.

“Yeah”, he replied.

“Good. I am locking the doors now”, Denmark muttered and pushed few buttons more, “and then we go! Just in time.”

“Super”, Iceland mumbled.

“We will make two stops more and then you should go to check the tickets”, Denmark noted.

“Me?”

“Well, yeah”, the Dane replied, “I am kind of busy already.”

“But how I know what to do?” Iceland asked.

“Just the stuff you normally see in the train”, Denmark explained, “ask for the tickets, answer for all weird question and throw out everybody trying to travel without valid ticket. Normal stuff.” 

“Dan”, Iceland said with a small sigh, “I don’t have trains in my land. I have no idea what people do in the trains.” Denmark paused for a moment and frowned. 

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“But I am sure you have been in train before”, the Dane noted, “I think I took you for a tour when I got the first one. Remember, we went to Roskilde?” Iceland nodded. He could still recall the day when the first, great train had arrived to Denmark’s land. It was almost hilarious to think about how scared and still curious humans had been on that day. Denmark himself had been mostly excited and took the younger nation with him to experience the first ever train travel between Copenhagen and Roskilde. The only thing making that day sadder was the fact that Denmark had been still mourning his separation from Norway, who hadn’t been allowed to be in contact with the Danish nation. 

“Yeah”, Iceland muttered, “but the last time was over seventy years ago. I bet everything had changed since that.” 

“You sure you haven’t been in the train for so long?” Denmark asked and Iceland nodded, “not even when you visit us?”

“You always pick me up with a car or I use other public transportation”, Iceland replied, “I never need to take a train. In fact, the last time was when I had to escape… You know.” Denmark glanced out the windows and shrugged. 

“Well, in that case”, he said, “you will experience a lot today.”

Denmark almost kicked the hesitating Icelander out when it was time to check the tickets. Iceland still didn’t know how exactly he was going to do that, but he found out that they were not the only ones working in the train. A mid-aged human woman found him almost right away and gestured him to follow her. It turned out that Denmark had told people something about having his little brother with him for a work day because they had some kind of “take your kid to work” day at school. Iceland thought that was a stupid and nonsense lie but apparently his much younger looking body worked again because everybody accepted him as a young student. Of course he was a student, but he was quite sure that the University didn’t have any special work days for them. 

After some stumbling, Iceland found out that checking the tickets wasn’t so difficult job. They had given him a small machine that said peep after correct check and all he had to do was to point it at the right direction and mumble some words for the people. He didn’t even got any questions, probably mostly because the name tag on his shirt said “trainee” and people were kind enough to bot bother him with questions he did not know answers for.  

It took almost an hour before he started to feel that something was off. He looked around in the train car but couldn’t spot anything strange. Wednesdays were not the most popular travel days but because it was summer, the train was at least half full. It was also a warm day so all the windows were so open than was possible. Iceland shrugged and went back to work. Few minutes later he felt strange again and his frown almost worried the young man whose ticket he was just checking. But it wasn’t the ticket that was tickling his senses, it was the voice played in the train. 

“This is not Danish”, Iceland murmured when the announcement played next time. He glanced up to screen only to notice that the text telling about the train was definitely not Danish either. Iceland turned and quickly told people that he would be soon back. Some of them sighed, clearly annoying by being forced to wait a bit longer a ticket in hand, but most just nodded or simply carried on with whatever they had been doing. 

“Hey”, Denmark said when the Iceland stepped in the driver’s room, “how is it going?”

“Where we are going?” Iceland asked and Denmark smirked.

“I wondered how long it will take before you notice”, he said, “to Gothenburg. And then back. You will have about one hour time if you want to hang out in the city.”

“Okay”, Iceland said, “do Sví knows you are driving a train in his land?”

“Nope”, Denmark replied, “he might know soon, tho. Could you answer for this? It has been ringing already for a while.” Iceland snorted but took the offered phone and swiped the green icon.

_ “What are you doing in my land?”  _ Sweden grunted right after the line connected.

“Will you believe if I say Dan kidnapped me?” Iceland asked and gave a look at the Dane who was mouthing word nationsnatched.

_ “Hej Is”,  _ Sweden said after realizing that Denmark hadn’t answered for his own phone, “ _ that is not unbelievable.”  _

“Yep”, Iceland said. Denmark glanced up from the buttons and many colourful switches. Iceland had no idea what all those things did but apparently Denmark had because he didn’t hesitate to handle them. 

“Tell him to relax”, he said, “we are only going to Gothenburg and back. It is not like I am taking over or anything.”

“You heard that?” Iceland asked, because the Dane had been talking loud enough. 

_ “Ja”,  _ he replied, “ _ it is okay. Take care he doesn’t mess up anything.” _

“Sure. I am a babysitter”, Iceland murmured and the call ended with short goodbyes. Iceland sat down on the second chair in the small space and pushed the phone in the first empty and right sized slot he could find. There wasn’t much happening because the train kept going with steady pace and the nations didn’t talk until Iceland spoke up again. 

“Do you have a reason for this?”

“For what?” Denmark asked.

“For driving a train”, Iceland muttered and after a brief thinking Denmark shrugged. 

“Not really. I just think it is fun”, he said, “but have you really looked at all those people sitting there?”

“Yeah, I kind of have to while checking their tickets”, Iceland said. He might not be the most social person in the world, but at least he had been taught to look at persons he was dealing with and pretending that he was interested on their things. 

“I mean, have you  _ looked  _ at them”, Denmark said and Iceland frowned before slowly shaking his head.

“They are just normal people”, Iceland said and frowned, “I haven’t noticed anything extraordinary.” Actually he had seen one guy who seemed like he was trying to avoid the ticket check and some young people had tried to set up a party while few ladies gossiped about almost scary things, but Iceland felt like that wasn’t what the Dane meant. He knew he had been right when Denmark shook his head and gave the Icelander almost sad look because he didn’t get what the man was meaning. 

“What? You have to tell me”, Iceland said with annoyed voice after the Dane just kept giving him sad looks. 

“Yeah, okay”, Denmark said and smirked, “so, have you ever thought about how short their life is? Like if they are lucky they will live up to one hundred, but of course we have to take away the years when they can’t really do things so let’s say that an average human has about 60 years’ time for an active life.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered and wondered where the Dane was going with the explanation, “I have thought it few times, but…”

“It’s really short time”, Denmark said, “just six decades, that goes pass almost without noticing. So if I was a human, I would be damn busy with doing everything I want to do.”

“You are still damn busy even now”, Iceland noted, remembering the Dane’s numerous educational degrees and apparently secret part-time jobs. He wondered if Norway knew about what Denmark was doing during his free time, but he quickly came up with the conclusion that probably he did. Norway wasn’t the kind of man who didn’t know what was happening around him. 

“Yeah, there is lot to see and do”, Denmark replied happily, “but about these people. With such a short time they will have to make best out of it. So, where are they going? Are they happy? Are they doing what they want to do and why they do it? What made them choice this?”

“That is lot of questions”, Iceland muttered after a brief silence, “why you are thinking about that?” The Dane’s thoughts surprised him as he had never guessed that out of all the nations Denmark would be one to wonder about such questions, though he tended to be friendly with humans too. Iceland himself hadn’t started to think about humans so much until he started the University and hanged out more with them. 

“It fascinates me”, Denmark replied, “I wonder what I would do if my time would be so limited.”

“You would annoy Nore without breaks”, Iceland noted, “I bet that would be your life mission.”

“If by annoying you mean loving… Then yes!” the Dane said and smiled, “what you would do?” Iceland opened his mouth and then closed it again after he realized he didn’t have an answer. 

“I am not sure”, he finally admitted, “I guess I would just do something.” 

“That is quite vague answer”, Denmark said, but still he nodded and smiled, “but so far that I know, most of the humans would answer like that too.” 

“I guess that it’s a difficult question”, Iceland murmured and looked out from the train’s window. Now that he knew they were in Sweden’s land, he wasn’t surprised to see slightly familiar views. 

“I bet you would be a sad kid”, Denmark suddenly said, “you know. That kind of who just sits in the room and complains about things.”

“I don’t complain about things”, Iceland replied and gave a long look at the Dane who was trying to hold his laugh back. 

“Yes, you do”, he said, “you just complained about being blamed for complaining.”

“That makes no sense”, Iceland said, “of course I will complain about being blamed for complaining when it is not even true.”

“And now you are complaining about being blamed for complaining about being complaining”, Denmark said and laughed, “or something like that.” 

“You are impossible.”

“I know!” Denmark kept laughing and soon even the Icelander had to follow because the Dane’s laugh was simply too contagious and when Iceland started to laugh, Denmark just became louder and soon they were both out of breath. 

“I don’t even know why this is so funny”, the Icelander said after he finally managed to stop himself, “is this how you make Nore laugh?”

“Yeah. He loves that”, Denmark said. He was still chuckling and taking care that all the passengers got in the train at the same time. Iceland tried to image his stoic brother laughing so much that it would be hard to breathe, but it was a difficult task to do. The more he tried the more he started to laugh himself.

“For what we are laughing now”, Denmark asked, barely holding himself back.

“I…”, Iceland tried to explain without running out of the breath between the laughs, “I just thought… Nore laughing like… this.” He had to turn his face down in order to try to calm himself. He heard the Dane chuckling and a faint click of the phone’s camera. 

“Nor will love to see this”, the Dane said happily just before the Icelander realized he had took a photo.

“Dan” he complained, “did you really…”

“Yeah”, he said and showed the phone’s screen to Iceland, “I sent it too!” Iceland stared at the phone and the little note of Norway writing a reply popped up for a while before the actual reply arrived.

_ Dan: Look! He is laughing because he tries to image you laughing! _

_ Nor: It is my happiness to be the source of his joy. _

“Okay”, Iceland muttered. Denmark gave him a smirk, but he had to focus on his job again because they were just arriving to the next station. Iceland watched quietly how the Dane handled everything. He wondered if he should ask the question. It felt like the moment was right for it, though he had waited longer with Sweden and Norway.

“Dan, do you like to be a personification?” he asked.

“Hell yeah, I do”, Denmark replied right away without any hesitation, “I love it!” Iceland nodded. He had been expecting that kind of answer.

**** 

During the first three days Iceland had somewhat got used for the Dane’s surprises and that was why he did not even startle when Denmark suddenly grabbed his arm on Thursday morning and dragged him down to the car. He only did his best to safe his breakfast and not hit his head when he was pushed in to the vehicle.  The only thing that made him wonder was the fact that Norway was sitting in the car too and calmly waiting for something to happen.

“He kidnapped you too?” Iceland asked when the way too excited Dane took the driver’s place and started the car while humming some catchy song.

“Not exactly”, Norway replied.

“It is not possible to snatch Norwegians”, Denmark noted and smirked, “they are too fierce!”

“Well, thank you, Dan”, Norway said and nodded, “I have some business to do and Dan kindly promised to give me a lift. This is really appreciated especially because the car is mine.”

“You are welcome, my love”, Denmark said happily. They first took the Norwegian to his meeting before Denmark drove to their destination. Like normal, the Dane refused to tell anything about his plans, which led to the Icelander staring at the small sign on the building’s wall with almost scared expression. They were somewhere in the capital area, but not in the immediate centrum so there were less people going around and the place looked overall calmer. The building had a homely look and the gate was decorated with silly drawings of animals.

“Kindergarten?” Iceland asked, “we gonna work in kindergarten today?”

“Yep!” Denmark said happily and smirked, “don’t look so scared. They are just kids!”

“Kids are scary”, Iceland complained.

“Well, you were kind of ok-ish when you were a kid”, Denmark said with a shrug, “you bit me only like five times.”

“Ok-ish?” Iceland asked and hesitantly followed the older nation who was already walking in. They could hear the laugh and yells of the kids who were playing around.

“Yeah. Ok-ish.”

“You so deserved every one of those bites”, Iceland replied.

“And kicks?”

“Those too”, Iceland muttered. In theory, he had nothing against of kids. They were just small humans with zero experience and much lighter view about the world, but still Iceland felt always awkward when he was around kids. For some reason Denmark was good with them and it was well known fact that he loved to play with and babysit the kids of his royal family. Iceland had never understood why he was so natural with those mini humans that were loud, running around and speaking about things that made no sense… Though, actually now that he thought about it, Denmark and the kids definitely shared some similarities. 

“Just come and have fun, Is”, Denmark said and hold the gate open for him. Iceland sighed but followed him inside anyway. 

It turned out Iceland was half right. He had survived the kids but after the day he still found them highly annoying, though Denmark said he had have lot of fun all day. Iceland could understand that because the Dane had just fit right in and he knew how to speak with the kids. Iceland had been just stuck between awkward questions and weird comments. 

“One of them asked if I am a grandpa”, he complained to his brother. After the kindergarten day, Denmark had told the Icelander that they were going out with other Nordics. Apparently Finland and Sweden were still in the Dane’s land though Iceland hadn’t seen them for a few days. They had picked up the Norwegian from the same place he had got off on the morning. 

“Well, your hair colour might remind them about old people”, Norway noted. 

“I am just a bit over one thousand”, Iceland muttered. Norway and Denmark seemed both be amused about his complains, but at least the Norwegian showed some sympathy too. The Dane was just enjoying every moment.

“True”, he said with a laugh, “they should have called you the great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa!” Iceland gave him a dry look.

“Easy for you to laugh”, he said, “they loved you. You didn’t get any awkward questions.”

“Don’t worry, Island”, Norway said and reached to ruffle the Icelander’s hair, “it is only because he is a kid too.”

“And I know the tricks”, Denmark noted, “like, always carry Legos with you!”

“What?” Iceland asked and the Dane nodded, which made the younger nation to give a questioning look at the Norwegian who nodded too.

“It is true”, he said, “if you ever need Legos, just check Dan’s pockets.” 

“Okay, sure”, Iceland muttered, “why?”

“I have honestly no idea”, Norway replied. The Dane was too busy with looking for a parking place so he didn’t have time to share his vision of the Legos usefulness. Sweden and Finland had arrived just few minutes earlier so they were seated right away when they stepped in the restaurant. 

The Nordics were happy to gather together again and soon they were talking about whatever they had been doing lately. Naturally, they were carefully avoiding any topics that would have caused questions in case somebody else was listening to them, but it was easy to still speak about common things. Sweden was showing his concern about Gothenburg which made Denmark trying to prove that he was in fact good with driving a train and there was no reason to worry. Norway was chatting with Finland about some book they both had read. Apparently the Finn had been bored lately and tried to ease that with raiding the book shelves of Denmark’s home. Sweden noted that the faucer in the second floor’s bathroom had been dripping but he had fixed it and Finland had also cut some trees to be used to warm up the house during the colder days and nights. Denmark’s old home was still partly warmed with wood so he appreciated the Finn’s gift. 

Iceland was seated between them all which gave him a good opportunity to take a part of all the discussions around him. He mostly just commented on whatever he heard without really focusing on the talking and that suited him the best. It was quite normal family evening, though few times Iceland got a weird feeling that something was going on. After few tries he finally noticed that Finland was staring at him. It wasn’t really threating stare, more like observing, and after he realized Iceland had spotted him he simply smiled and turned away to continue whatever discussion he had been taking a part to. It made the Icelander wonder, but he decided to ignore it.  

They were just finishing the main course when a man passed their table and casually dropped piece of the paper next to Iceland’s hand. The nation frowned, but when he looked up, the passer-by was already gone.  He picked up the paper and carefully folded it open. 

_ Come to the toilet after five minutes. Knock four times so we know it is you. _

Iceland stared at the weird message. It was written in his language, which made him feel a bit better about it, but it was still definitely strange. He looked up only to notice that Norway was watching him. Without saying anything he showed the message to his brother who nodded shortly after reading it. 

“It is okay”, he said, “we are right here. Nobody would dare to hurt you.” 

“Guys, I will just go to toilet”, he said while getting up. He made his best to sound casual but he could still see Denmark looking confused for a moment. Norway only nodded and continued the conversation while drawing a simply rune with his finger to let the others secretly know that the situation was unusual but under the control. The wild Viking days had taught the Scandinavians few tricks and therefore they all acted natural, though the atmosphere was a bit tenser. 

Iceland made his way to the toilet and knocked four times just as the message had said. The lock was opened but whoever was inside let the Icelander to open the door by himself. He reminded himself about the fact that he was almost immortal anyway, and stepped in.

“I apologize about this”, somewhat familiar voice said in Icelandic, “but we have got some information we have to share with you.” After few confused seconds Iceland finally realized why the man was so familiar.

“Jöfur?” he asked, “you are Jöfur, right?” the man nodded and the nation calmed more now that he knew it was just his secret service. He might be a slightly upset about them following him so much, but he still trusted that they worked only for his good. So far they have been helpful. 

“Yes”, Jöfur said, “I don’t have much time so. We have been looking into few things and we have noted that your Finnish… um… family member might be planning something that is harmful for you.” Iceland stared at the human for few moments before he found his speaking skills again.

“You mean Finland?” he asked. Stupid question, there was exactly one Finn in his family.

“Yes.”

“Well”, Iceland muttered without taking the message too seriously, “he is naturally a bit weird so I don’t think it is anything bad.” 

“He has been looking into some worrying…”, the human said, but Iceland shook his head.

“Thank you, but I think everything is okay”, he said, “and if it is not. Well, I will feel sorry for Finland when Nore catch him.” The human didn’t look so sure but apparently he didn’t have anything else to prove his words because he only nodded.

“Be careful anyway”, he said, “even if it will not harm you, something is still going on.”

“Sure”, Iceland replied, “thank you.” The human nodded and Iceland walked out. When other Nordics saw him returning without any problems, they relaxed. 

“Everything okay?” Denmark asked and Iceland nodded. That was all they talked about it and soon the discussion moved back to their normal topics. Iceland still didn’t think that anything bad was going on, but he has to admit that something strange was going to happen and it probably had something to do with Finland. After all, the next week was his. 

**** 

On Friday morning Iceland waked up peacefully without any Danes jumping around or dragging him out. For a moment he felt weird and then he spotted the clock. He hadn’t bothered with the alarm, after all the Dane never told him about the plans, and so he had slept far longer than he usually did. He frowned and checked once again that it was Friday and he hadn’t mixed up the days. But it was, and still Denmark hadn’t waked him up. 

When Iceland stepped outside, he noticed the Dane calmly sitting at the table and filling up the crosswords from the newspaper. He had empty mug and plate next to him and it was clear that he was waiting for something. Iceland guessed that the something was him. 

“Hey”, he murmured and Denmark gave him a wide smile. 

“Great, finally you are up!” he said and dropped his pen, “I have waited forever.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered and sat down to eat the apple he had picked from the bowl, “you did not wake me up.”

“True”, Denmark said, “Nor said you might be more co-operative if I let you go and do like you want.”

“And you decided to follow that advice  _ now  _ after dragging me around for four days”, Iceland muttered.

“Yeah.”

“What are you planning?” Iceland asked and gave the man a suspecting look. 

“Nothing”, Denmark said, “really, nothing. I have no plans for today. It is all up to you.”

“That is…”, Iceland said, “weird.”

“I know”, Denmark said, “I like to surprise.” Iceland took a bite of the apple and used some time to think. He really didn’t have any ideas about how to use the day, but he had some questions at least.

“Can I ask something?”

“Sure”, Denmark said, “but I hope there will be something else too. I will be so bored if we gonna just talk.”

“What are you aiming for with this”, Iceland asked the question he hadn’t got an answer earlier, and ignored the Dane’s comment, “Sví wanted to show me how to lead a bigger country, Nore made me live that spelled life in order to learn how to make decisions, but what are you trying? This all feels a bit weird.”

“That is a good question actually”, Denmark said, “I am not really trying to teach you anything specific.”

“So why then?”

“I just want to show you different views”, he said, “we nations sometime forgets how the things work. It is good to go a bit back and stop to think.”

“You are really the strange one”, Iceland muttered and Denmark laughed.

“I also thought it was just fun”, he said, “those kids were adorable when they asked all that weird stuff from you.”

“How about the piglet?” Iceland asked, “or your fan club?”

“Well, that was fun too”, Denmark said with a shrug, “more questions?”

“Do you know what Fin is planning?”

“Sorry”, Denmark said right away, “it is a secret.”

“Can you not tell a bit at least?” Iceland asked. He had already guessed that Denmark would not tell him the full plan but a hint would help him to prepare for next week. He saw the Dane thinking and barely hid is triumphant smirk.

“Okay”, Denmark said, “it will be kind of survival week. You know the Finn, he thinks everybody has to be able to go on by their own and I have a feeling that he thinks you are lacking with some things.”

“Shit”, Iceland said.

“You will survive it”, Denmark promised, “and if not, Nor will take over your land so it is fine.” Iceland gave him a long look and wondered if he could hit the man with an apple. His aim wasn’t the best, but then again the distance was quite short. 

“That didn’t made me feel any better”, he noted.

“I am realistic.”

“You are supposed to be optimistic”, Iceland said

“I am optimistically realistic”, Denmark declared and stopped to think, “no wait. Oh, whatever, what we gonna do today?”

“I want to have ice cream”, Iceland replied and watched the Dane’s look changing to a sad one.

“That is boring”, he complained, “but okay. I can take you the best ice cream place in all Scandinavia. Sve has nothing like that.”

“Let me finish”, Iceland said, “after that, you are going to show me how to avoid agents. I don’t like that they follow me.” The excited smile came back on the Dane’s face right away and he nodded.

“Super”, he said, “that will be awesome!” Iceland nodded. He had a feeling too that it might be awesome. 

For the next six hours Iceland got ice cream and he learnt more about avoiding people than he ever thought he would learn. For such a social person Denmark was amazingly good with how to stay alone and hided. It took hours for Iceland to learn all the small tricks and ways to make sure the people following him lost his tracks in the city, but when he finally did he was awarded with a confused phone call from his secret service asking about where he was.

“I am so proud of you”, Denmark declared when Iceland ended the phone call and showed a thumb up, “this is great! Let’s have some more ice cream for celebration!”

“But it is dinner time.”

“Who cares”, Denmark said and smirked.


	17. Higher Finnish

Iceland didn’t see Finland on Saturday and also Sunday went pass without any sign of the Finnish nation. Iceland was slightly confused because usually the Finn took care that everything was well organized and he was almost maniac about schedules and timings. Apparently the others’ mysterious ways had affected him and he too decided to leave the Iceland annoyingly without any information. To protest this horrible act, Iceland decided to just carry on with his life. He got lot of sleep, thanks to Norway who finally took his brother’s side and kept the Dane from causing too much troubles and lot of noise on mornings. 

Monday morning also came without any sudden wake ups or anything weird. Actually Iceland had almost finished his breakfast when the Finn finally showed up with a wide smile on his face. All the three Nordics living in the city apartment were still wearing their night suits and Denmark’s hair was dripping water after the shower. Norway and Iceland shared the morning’s newspaper and the radio played quietly in the background.

“Good morning everybody!” Finland said and looked around, “I hope you are ready, Is.”

“For what?” Iceland asked, hoping that somebody would finally let him know.

“For an adventure”, the Finn replied.

“Are you still sure you want to do this, Fin?” Norway suddenly asked with a slightly colder voice than usually. It wasn’t normal that he was acting like that toward the Finn, but for some reason Iceland was only one who frowned. Sweden, who had come in with Finland, went to fridge to make a breakfast for himself without caring much and Denmark took his chance to snatch some of the newspaper. 

“Jep”, Finland said and sounded just like normally despite of the glare the Norwegian was giving him, “I am not going to change my mind, no matter what you say.”

“So be it”, Norway muttered, “but if something happens…”

“You will blame me for eternality and so on”, Finland said, “I know. You made it clear already.”

“Could somebody explain me what is going to happen?” Iceland said with a slightly frustrated voice. 

“Sure”, Finland said, “come, I will check what you can take with you while we talk.” Iceland glanced at his brother, but Norway had already gave up and was pretending that Finland didn’t exist by reading the part of the newspaper that was still left after Denmark had stolen what he could. 

“Okay”, Iceland muttered and stuffed the last piece of bread in his mouth before following the Finn into his room, “so what is it?” Finland was already going through his stuff, but so far it seemed he wasn’t finding anything he thought they needed. Iceland noted that he went through the closets and made small disappointed noises when he looked around.

“I have made lot of work for this”, Finland said and closed the closet’s door without picking up anything, “it started when I wondered what I could give to you. I thought it have to be something useful. It took me days to first decide what I could possibly teach you, but when I did, it all made sense.”

“So what is it?”

“Surviving”, Finland said, “that is what I know best. I made some background check and found out that despite of all the taking care, Dan and Nor never really taught you how to survive by your own. That is a big mistake. Everybody has to learn that.”

“I think I have been doing pretty well”, Iceland muttered, feeling slightly upset about the Finn’s words. He had been independent already for some decades and so far he had managed fine. 

“Sure you have been”, Finland said and gave him a quick smile, “but we have to think about worse case scenarios. What if somebody attacks you or something catastrophically happens?  What would be your plan?”

“I…”, Iceland said, but he hesitated and that was enough for the Finn to confirm his thoughts. Sternly the Finnish nation nodded.

“You have always trusted that others keep your safe”, he said. 

“So what?” Iceland asked and Finland couldn’t miss the annoyance and slight anger in his voice.

“It is not  _ wrong”,  _ he said, “we all rely to each other. But we have to be prepared for the worst and there might be a time when you are all alone because we others are tied up with something else. You have to be ready.” The usually cheerful Finnish nation had now a stern look on his face and, though his lips were still turned in to small smile, his eyes were hard. 

“You are right”, Iceland muttered after a while. 

“I know”, Finland said, “and that’s why I am going to teach you all about surviving. Week is quite short time for that, but you have already good basic skills and I have made a perfect plan. I tried first to carry this out here in Dan’s land, but after seeing around I decided that this is just not what we need so…”

“Wait”, Iceland said, “you mean that the road trip last week was only for you to check out places for your survive camp?”

“Correct!”

“I knew something strange was going on there”, Iceland noted and Finland laughed.

“I have already took care of most of things, but…”, he said and frowned, “where is your puukko?”

“Mine what?” Iceland asked.

“Puukko”, Finland repeated and the Iceland used a moment to think what the word meant. When he got the right image in his mind, he frowned.

“I don’t have one”, he admitted.

“Really?” Finland asked with surprised voice, “well, I will have to give you one then. Bit late for that now, but at least I know now what to get you for Christmas. Okay, your clothes are… Well, all of them are pretty much same so pick up something warm, waterproof and durable.”

“Exactly where we are going?” Iceland asked, “if we need weapons?”

“Puukko is not a weapon”, Finland corrected him, “but yes, we will first fly to Narvik and then make our way from there to my cabin in Kalmankaltio.”

“With a bus?”

“No”, Finland said and sounded almost too excited, “by foot!”

“What?” Iceland almost dropped the shirt he had grabbed from the pile in his chair. Like Finland had noted, most of his clothes were similar. It wasn’t his fault that he favoured the Icelandic style over everything and had filled up his closet with the traditional pieces.  

“Jep”, Finland nodded, “we will walk.”

“But it will take forever”, Iceland complained. He wasn’t an expert on the Northern geography, but he knew that Narvik was in Norway’s land so they were going to at least cross Sweden’s in order to get in Finland’s side. 

“Four days, actually, probably the whole week”, Finland replied happily, “it is the adventure and survival part. We will be there only two of us.”

“Are you sure it is not dangerous?” Iceland asked. The older man didn’t look worried, but Iceland had already learnt that the Finnish nation somewhat lacked the normal senses. 

“Yeah”, he replied, “I have done this many times.”

“And you are still alive?” Iceland asked, “like, you did not die?”

“Yes, I survived it without dying almost every time”, he said happily, “and the one time I did not, it was not my fault and it was war time so you can’t blame me.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered, “that is not really going to make me feel good about this idea.” 

“Well”, Finland said, “it will be fine.”

“I wonder how you managed to make Nore to agree for this”, Iceland said, “Dan said he wanted to do something similar but Nore said no.” Finland gave the Icelander one of his gentle smiles that so well hided his intentions sometimes. 

“There is one big difference between me and Dan”, he said, “and it is that I don’t give a shit about what Nor thinks.”

“Great”, Iceland muttered, “let’s go and die in the forest then.” 

“It will be okay.”

“Not sure about that”, Iceland muttered, “but okay. Let me pack some clothes and…”

“Oh no”, Finland said quickly, “no packing, you take only what you can wear.”

“Fin…”

“Just do what I say”, Finland commanded with a smile. Iceland stared at him, but nodded after a while. Finland was part of the family, right, he would not make him do anything too dangerous. No matter the fact that Iceland’s own secret service had warned him about the Finnish nation and Norway seemed to be pissed off. i

Iceland quickly changed his night suit to something more suitable for outdoor live. Luckily, the weather in his land was harsh and he was used to dress up for possible extreme weather so it didn’t take him long to pick up some warm and water proof clothes. It was summer, but the summer in north was fickle and he had a feeling that Finland would not give up even if there was a surprise snow storm along the way.

“I am ready”, he said and Finland glanced at him before nodding.

“Okay, let’s go then”, he said, “our flight is leaving soon.” Iceland nodded shortly and followed the Finnish man back to the living room. Norway was still standing and looked royally pissed off while Denmark and Sweden had sat down and were surprising quiet. 

“I will take you to airport”, Norway said sternly when Finland and Iceland showed up, “ _ you  _ will stay here.” The last sentence was meant for two other Scandinavians, who were smart enough to agree right away. It was better for them, because Iceland was sure the following car drive was the most awkward experience he had ever had. Norway was driving without saying anything and keeping his eyes on the road. Iceland could only try to guess how angry he was. Finland in other hand seemed to be perfectly fine and, though he didn’t even attempt to make conversation, he was acting like he always did. Iceland was sitting in back and feeling awkward all the way to the airport. 

“So here we are”, Finland said when they stood in the terminal and surprisingly Norway hadn’t tried to murder anybody yet, “Is, give your phone to Nor.”

“Sure”, Iceland mumbled.

“You don’t need to do this, Is”, Norway said and didn’t took the offered phone, “the deal was that all of us has one week with you, but you still don’t need to agree for anything this dangerous.” Iceland glanced at Finland, who nodded shortly.

“That is true”, he said, “if you really say no, I will not drag you kicking in to the plane. They will probably kick us out anyway and put me on the watch list for that. I need to fly quite often and it might be a bit difficult if they suspect me for kidnapping.” Iceland looked at them, but he had made up his mind already. It might be dangerous, but he still trusted the crazy Finn.

“I will do it”, he said, “see you next week, Nore.” He tried to figure out the man’s expression to see what he thought, but like normally Norway hid his thoughts carefully. Only thing Iceland could see was a mix of surprise with some proudness. That confused him but he guessed that the Norwegian was still respecting his decision.

“Very well”, Norway said and finally took the phone the Iceland had offered him, “Finland, remember that if anything happens…”

“Your threats are not working on me, you know”, Finland replied, “but sure. If Iceland gets hurt, I will say goodbye to my sweet life.” 

“I was going to say that so long that you are in my land, you can alert me simply telling the creatures around that you need help. You might not see them, but they are there and they will find me”, Norway said, “but now that you reminded me, if something happens to Island, you are a dead man.”

“Fully noted”, Finland said, “so, let’s go now before the plane leaves. Have a fun week with Sve and Dan, Nor!”

“I will try”, Norway said dryly and looked after them until he couldn’t see them anymore. Then he sighed and returned to home to see what his fellow Scandinavians were up to. 

They didn’t talk much during the flight, mostly because the small plane was too noisy and Finland decided to take a nap. Iceland used most of the time to stare a wall or other passengers and think about whatever came up in his mind. Hours went past and, when they finally landed, Iceland was ready to do anything just for getting out to stretch his legs. Despite of the summer, the weather in Narvik was quite cold and Iceland could smell the familiar scent of ocean. Still, Finland didn’t let him to enjoy the open nature for too long.

“Okay, first things first”, the Finn said and gave the Icelander a ragged piece of paper.

“What is this?”

“A map”

“For what?”

“To see where we are going”, Finland said and smiled in mischievous way, “I thought you know what maps do.” Iceland sighed.

“Of course”, he said, “but it is not common that somebody just hands you a map without any clear reason.”

“It is not?” Finland asked and bit his lip when Iceland nodded, “well, this explains why Sve was so confused with few first times.”

“Are you serious?” Iceland asked because he couldn’t come up with any reasons why Finland wold be randomly handing maps to the Swedish nation.

“I might be”, Finland replied and smirked before he got his serious look back. “okay, we have wasted enough time here.”

“Can’t we have a lunch somewhere before…” Iceland started, but Finland didn’t let him finish. 

“We didn’t come here to eat”, he said and gestured toward the map the Icelander was holding, “we should get going.”

“Oh, right”, Iceland muttered, “we came here to die in the forest. How could I forget that?” Finland rolled his eyes and snorted. Iceland knew he was complaining without any reason, after all he had agreed to this even after he had been asked about it several times, but it was good that Finland seemed to find the complaining mostly amusing. 

“I see you are in good mood today”, Finland joked and pushed the Icelander’s shoulder with enough power to make him take a step forward, “well, let’s see how you feel after couple of days.”

“That didn’t sound promising at all”, Iceland muttered and finally took a better look of the map, “Fin?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you draw this by yourself?” Iceland asked because the map was far from the normal ones he usually saw. First of all, it was clearly made with a simple pencil on A4 paper and it barely had any details. With some carefully looking Iceland could recognize the outline of the city and some surrounding. On the right side of paper was an arrow pointing out and text FINLAND over it. 

“Yeah”, Finland said.

“I see”, Iceland muttered, “how I am supposed to find anything with this?”

“Well”, Finland said, “you should use it to figure out where I hid our stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“You think I am going to go to wilderness with you without any equipment?” Finland asked back.

“I kind of thought exactly that”, Iceland admitted, “you made it quite clear that this is about surviving.”

“True, but we will still have some stuff with us”, the Finn said.

“What kind of stuff?” Iceland asked.

“Stuff”, Finland replied and managed to annoy the Icelander even more, “you will find out when we get to the place.”

“Why can’t you just tell?” Iceland asked and tried to once again figure out the map, “or even better; why not to just show me where the equipment are?”

“That wouldn’t be no fun at all”, Finland said and poked the Icelander’s shoulder, “move already. The time is running.”

“I don’t know where to”, Iceland muttered, but the Finnish nation had decided to be difficult and didn’t reply anything. Iceland felt frustrated, but there weren’t really any other options than try to take the look on the map and figure out how it worked. He muttered few well-chosen words under his breath and studied the piece of the paper. The drawing was far from detailed maps he had got used to see during the modern times, and when he started to recognize the place he also realized the map covered actually very small area, only few kilometres from the city borders. There were also some marks and… a cross?

“I found it”, Iceland said and was honestly surprised about that. Finland only nodded.

“Lead the way then”, he said and Iceland frowned again.

“I am not sure where is the north”, he said, trying to look for anything that might help him. He knew he could see the direction from sun or stars, but stars didn’t show up during the day and the sun was almost middle of the sky so the Icelander couldn’t see where it went up or down. He explained the problem to the Finn.

“There are other ways too”, Finland replied calmly, “just think about it a moment.”

“I don’t really know”, Iceland muttered.

“I will give you a hint”, the Finn said, “think about our special skills.” Iceland bit his lip and tried to think which one had something to do with the directions. They healed faster, learnt languages only by listening and reading for a while and they could sense when another nation was near as well when they entered into their land. None of those sounded like it might help, but then Iceland remembered that they couldn’t get lost in their own land. It was simply impossible because just by focusing a bit, they could feel exactly where they were. Of course, some nations still got lost if they forgot to think, but they always found soon back home after they had realized their mistake. But they were in Norway’s land and Norway wasn’t there so that would not help. They could only somewhat say where they own land was.

“Oh”, Iceland said when he realized it, “we can feel where our land is!”

“Great job”, Finland said.

“So where yours is?” Finland smiled and pointed to the east. Iceland knew his land was in west and he could also feel it so now he had a direction. 

“It is like internal compass”, Finland noted, “it is a bit vague, but helps you to get home.”

“Good”, Iceland muttered and looked at the map again, “so if we go first a bit to the north and then sharply to east, we should find the equipment.”

“Hm, go ahead”, Finland said and the Icelander nodded. He followed the map so well than he could, leading them out of the city and straight to the forest. Finland didn’t say anything and he even kept his expression neutral so Iceland had no way to know what he was thinking or if they were going in the right direction. Still, somehow Iceland was doing the right things because just after two hours they found the equipment Finland had hid there earlier. Iceland frowned when he saw the small backpack. 

“Only one?” he asked and Finland nodded.

“We don’t need much”, he explained, “okay, it is not too late yet so we should get a bit farther before setting a camp. How are your legs?” Finland didn’t look tired at all, but Iceland, who had always been more about staying home than walking hours in the forest, felt his muscles protesting. He still nodded and muttered about being fine, just to show Finland that he could do it. Finland didn’t mention about seeing through of his brave trying, but they stopped only one hour later. 

“Let’s make the camp here”, the Finn said and looked around, “and it would be the best to check out direction now so we will continue on the right way tomorrow.”

“I thought you said you have done this before”, Iceland said and sat down on he river bent. 

“Well, I lied”, Finland said simply, “I have done this kind of things, but never around here so it is kind of first time for me too.”

“You lied?” Iceland said and gave the Finn a surprised look. Finland nodded and continued his task of making a camp fire.

“Lesson number one”, he said with a cheerful tone, “everybody lies.”

“Even you?” Iceland asked and then quickly corrected himself, “well, you just did, but would you lie to everybody?”

“Yeah, if I need to”, the Finn said and took few items from the backpack, carefully placing them on the ground next to him, “did you had a specific person in mind?”

“Sví?” Iceland asked and Finland gave him a quick look before nodding.

“I have been lying to him for many times”, he replied and sighed, “all those times when I tried to make him believe that all was well and I could still fight. Of course, he saw through that right away, but he was gentlemen enough to let me keep my dignity.”

“Oh”, Iceland said after realizing that the Finn was speaking about the time he had been forcefully separated from Sweden. 

“But let’s go to other topics”, Finland said, “I did the fire this time, but you will do it tomorrow.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered. He hadn’t looked how the Finn did it, but he was quite sure he still remembered at least that from his childhood. After all, he had took care of himself for some years before Norway and Denmark had picked him up, and making a fire was very basic skill. He watched how the Finn started to cook something in a small pan.

“What are you doing?” he asked, hoping that it would be their dinner because he was feeling hungry. The backpack looked small and light weighted so Iceland had a bad feeling that they were really going to live very simply life for a week.

“Porridge”, Finland replied, “you see, that sneaky Norwegian for sure has something following us.”

“How porridge has anything to do with that?”

“A lot, actually”, Finland said and smirked, “Nor is not the only one who knows how to deal with the fairy-tale creatures. I might not be able to see them, but I can always make a deal.”

“Not sure about that”, Iceland said and carefully did not mention that he had seen something following them, “they like Nore a lot.”

“Yeah, but porridge is porridge”, Finland said, “they will not drop the orders, but I think I can persuade them to look away so long that I am not actually trying to hurt you or anything.”

“If you think so”, the Icelander said and quietly watched how the Finn prepared the porridge and then took it to the forest. He seemed to be satisfied with his trick.

“If the bowl is empty tomorrow morning, they have accepted the offer”, he told the Icelander who seemed to be dubious about that.

“What if some animals just come by and eat it?” he asked with a serious tone, “a fox or something.”

“Foxes don’t eat porridge”, Finland noted.

“I bet Norwegian foxes do”, Iceland said, “there are some damn weird foxes around here.” Finland gave him a look, but decided to just shrug instead of asking which kind of encounters Iceland had has with Norwegian foxes. He walked to the tree that was standing a bit separated from the forest and offered some shade but still allowed the man to see around easily. He seemed to be doing absolutely nothing and Iceland didn’t know what to do either. The moment became longer and finally the Icelander just had to ask.

“Fin?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we gonna eat anything?” he asked. Finland gave him a weird look, like it was strange to ask about eating after being without food almost all day.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you yet!” he said and smiled after remembering about it, “no, we will not.”

“What?”

“We will not eat”, the Finn said like it was completely normal thing to declare, “or well, we will eat whatever we can find or catch, which will mostly be some plants and berries maybe, because we will have no time for hunting or fishing.” Iceland stared at him, but the Finn didn’t seem to care.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah”, Finland replied, “I told you, this is about surviving.”

“But to be without food”, Iceland said, “isn’t that a bit too harsh?”

“Nor said that too”, Finland shrugged, “or he would have said so if I told him about this, but I did not so he has no idea.”

“Fin.” 

“It is not dangerous, Island, and you will have to know your limits”, Finland said, “You know, we don’t actually need to eat like humans do. I have done this before and I know we can go on up to four months without eating. A week with eating everything we can find in the forest will not kill us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah”, Finland nodded, “I was… forced by the circumstances to be without food. It is not comfortable feeling, your body has to constantly fix the damages made by the malnutrition and lack of energy, but it is possible.”

“What happens after four months?” 

“The body will go into coma”, Finland replied, “because the energy used for fixing the damage will be more than the body has. Coma will give it some chance to recover, but it is hard to wake up again.” Iceland glanced at the Finn, who was still leaning against the tree and seemed to be perfectly comfortable and calm. Only the under-tone in his voice and the hided meaning behind his words told that he had thinking about something he didn’t want to experience ever again. At that moment Iceland remembered how Norway had once mentioned that Finland had had harsher life than any of them.

“Fin”, he said carefully, “are you okay?” Finland looked at him and smiled.

“Of course”, he said, “the past doesn’t hurt, you know, it is gone.”

“If you say so”, Iceland muttered, but still watched the Finnish nation, an idea slowly forming in his mind, “is it the reason you wanted to do this?” Finland nodded almost right away. 

“We can never be sure about future”, he said, “I can only make sure that you will be more prepared than I was.”

“Well”, Iceland said and felt slightly awkward, “that is a good reason. I guess. Dan just wanted to have fun and I think Nore thought putting me in possible dangerous spell was fun too.” Finland laughed softly and shook his head.

“They do what they do best”, he said, “but I think we should go to sleep now. I will show you tomorrow which kind of plants are safe to eat.”

“Really? You gonna show me?” Iceland asked with slightly sarcastic tone, “I thought you will let me to figure it out by myself. After all, eating something poisonous will hardly hurt us.”

“Oh, what a great idea!” Finland declared with a smirk.

“No, Fin!” Iceland hurried to say, not even doubting that Finland might do it, “it was not a suggestion!”

“It is if I take it so.”

“Fin!” The Finnish nation laughed, his voice easily filling up the otherwise almost too quiet forest.

“Just go to sleep”, he said with a smile, “good night.”

“Good night”, Iceland muttered. He didn’t bother with asking if there was going to be any pillows and blankets. The answer was already quite clear so he did his best to find a soft and dry spot, and used his own arm as pillow and the jacket served as a blanket. Iceland still remembered the times when he had always slept outside without any comfort, and also the long travels and nights spent sleeping in forest because the distance between inns were too long. It wasn’t really a new thing for him, but still he noted that the modern life had left a mark on him. It took a long time before he fell asleep. 

“Good morning, Is” Finland’s voice waked up the Icelandic nation way too soon. Iceland groaned and moved to stretch his legs and arms, immediately regretting it because even the slightest movement felt slow and difficult. Not only the hours walking during the previous day had wearied him, sleeping on the ground hadn’t really helped much either. 

“Morning”, Iceland muttered and looked at the Finn, who had already got his shoes on and tried to fix his hair with his fingers. He gave up quickly.

“Are you ready to go?” the Finn asked with eager tone right when he noticed that the Icelander had got on his feet. Iceland gave him a look and shook his head.

“Let me drink and wash my face first”, he said, “and I need to use toilet… I mean I have to go behind the tree or something.”

“Yeah sure”, Finland said and sniggered, “behind the tree.”

“Stop sounding like you enjoy this”, Iceland muttered dryly and let the Finn alone. It took him only few minutes to complete his simply morning routines that were even more simply now that he didn’t have breakfast or brush or anything really. He cursed a bit when he realized he hadn’t took toothbrush with him, but it made him feel a bit better that he would probably not meet any other persons during the week. Only Finland would be with him and the Finn deserved to suffer from unhygienic and smelly travel companion. It was his fault Iceland hadn’t took anything with him. 

Finland didn’t mention about the Icelander’s lack of selfcare. Probably because he was just as ruff looking and so far that Iceland knew, he hadn’t took much with him either. Iceland hadn’t seen what there was in their backpack, but it was light weighted and Finland hadn’t touched it, so he guessed the toothbrush was not in at least.

They walked on with a good pace and Iceland noticed that luckily his stiff muscles warmed up quickly, making the moving more comfortable. Finland was leading, and Iceland believed he was simply following the sense that lead him to his homeland.  While they walked, the Finnish nation kept pointing different plants he claimed to be edible. Iceland tasted few, but soon he noticed that Finland had been right. Though he could feel the hunger, it was more like a small annoying feeling in his belly. It disappeared when he didn’t think about it, but still he felt just as strong as always. After while he even stopped feeling like he should eat, though Finland kept telling him to take at least some plants because it would be easier for his digestive system to start again if his belly hadn’t been completely empty for a long time.

“Take this”, Finland said and tossed a mushroom at the Icelander who observed it carefully.

“Okay”, he mumbled and took the offered food. He was quite sure he had seen something similar before, but he wasn’t really connecting it with anything. Promptly he moved it on his lips and was just going to take a bite when Finland’s voice stopped him.

“That one is poisonous”, he said without turning around to look at the Icelander. In fact, he just kept walking forward, leading the way through forest. Iceland grimaced and threw the mushroom away.

“Are you sure you are not trying to kill me?” he asked and the Finn chuckled. 

“Of course”, he said, “Nor would kill me and I don’t want to be dead.”

“Wou”, Iceland muttered carefully ducked under the low branches, “that is the only reason? I feel so loved now.”

“It is normal human behaviour to think about one’s own good first.”

“We are not humans.”

“True”, Finland said and turned to give the Icelander a smirk, “I am just joking.”

“Your humour is even worse than Dane’s”, Iceland muttered, “seriously, what Sví sees in you?”

“You will have to ask him”, Finland said, “he probably have a list… But now, keep walking. We should get a bit farther before sun sets.”

“It will not set today at all.”

“Perfect, we will be walking far then!” Iceland sighed when Finland laughed, but neither said anything for a while. Their pace was calm, offering the Icelander a good chance to also enjoy the views and calmness of the nature. It had been a long time since he had been wandering around like that and he had to admit that it brought up lot of memories. His body adapted to this simply and harsh life again, he stopped feeling hungry and somehow forgot about all his problems. It was refreshing. 

Two days had passed when Iceland noticed that Finland was getting restless. It started with only small signs; he spoke slightly faster and looked around like he was searching for something. Few times Iceland saw him suddenly smiling though there wasn’t really reason for that. When he started to speed up, though he had said that keeping the steady pace was the best idea, Iceland frowned and decided he should ask what was going on. 

“Fin?” he said, “are you okay?” Finland stopped and turned around to look at him. It was already late evening and the golden rays of sun brought deep colours into the forest. 

“Yeah”, he said, “why? Something wrong?”

“You are tense”, Iceland noted with a frown, “you were almost jumping a moment ago.”

“Oh that”, Finland said and nodded, “it is nothing dangerous.” He had a smile on his face and he looked so utterly happy that Iceland wondered if he had eaten something strange. So far, that Iceland knew, there wasn’t much reasons to be happy in middle of nothing.

“What then?” he asked.

“The border”, Finland explained, “we are going to cross over it anytime soon. I am quite sure it is right there.” He pointed forward to the way they were going to. Iceland didn’t see anything different there, but Finland seemed to be sure so he nodded.

“Okay”, he said, “wait, why are you excited about that?” Finland, who had already started to walk again, only chuckled and climbed over the small hill. There were no roads around so their way was occasionally difficult and included climbing, swimming and jumping.

“Wouldn’t everybody be happy to be back home?” Finland asked with a soft voice, “I have spent centuries with Sve. His land is just as much my home.”

“Oh”, Iceland muttered and followed the Finn, who kindly helped him to get over some bigger stones.

“Don’t you feel same when you go to Nor’s or Dan’s land?” Finland asked and with only small hesitation Iceland nodded.

“I guess”, he said, “I like to return there.”

“I knew it!” Iceland gave the Finn a look.

“Don’t you dare to tell that to them!” he said quickly, “they will never leave me alone if they know I like them.”

“Oh, they already know that”, Finland noted, “and do you really want to be left alone?” Iceland didn’t reply for that, but he didn’t miss the Finn’s knowing smirk. To make sure that Finland would not embarrass him, he decided to stay quiet for a while. 

It took few kilometres more, some stumbling around in the forest and getting wet in the stream before Finland was sure they were in the Swedish land. He smiled while looking around and it was hard to miss that he felt better. 

“It is like being in safe again”, Finland explained when he noticed the Icelander’s questioning look, “not that Nor is any threat or I couldn’t take care of myself, but after all these years Sve is still the one who keeps me going and has always been here for me. I can always trust on him.”

“Didn’t you tell me I should trust nobody?”

“Yeah”, Finland laughed, “that is also true. I guess love just makes us blind. Well, let’s find a good place for rest. I am getting tired.” Iceland nodded and started to search around. Finland had let him to pick up the rest places, though it was still the Finn himself who decided when they took rest. Iceland had no clock and it was hard to say how much time was passing so he wasn’t sure how much sleep he was getting. It probably was less than he normally slept because his mind and body was protesting, though it could also be so because he was in constant move every day. 

Finland kept telling him about all kind of things he could just come up with. After five days had passed, the Finn had taught him to make fire, all about plants he could eat and how to hunt and fish, how to find shelter and stay safe. Many of those things were already familiar for Iceland from his past life, but he also found out that the Finn really knew what he was talking about. Many of his advices were accompanied with a story of how he had done in the past. Finland wasn’t the best storyteller, his way of changing the topic suddenly and jump over things made it hard to follow, but Iceland still noticed that he was getting fascinated by it. 

“It looks like it is going to rain soon”, Finland muttered and looked up. Iceland had been thinking same already while and nodded. So far they had enjoyed sun, which had burnt their skin but was still nice, but now the clouds were gathering and heavy. Iceland could also feel the pressure of on-coming thunder.

“Yeah”, he muttered.

“Better to look for a shelter”, the Finn said, “we can have a longer break today.” Iceland nodded and followed the Finn, who seemed to know where he was going. He had been suspecting already for a while that Finland had much better knowledge about their environment and route than he let known. That was why he wasn’t surprised about how easily the Finn found a small, but secure, place between two huge stones. There wasn’t much space to move but they could still both crawl in and stay dry. The first rain drops were already falling and they could hear the distant rumble of thunder when Finland gestured Iceland to get in. 

“Wait here”, he said, “I will just go quickly and find some spruce branches to give us a bit comfort. I will be back right away.” 

“Okay”, Iceland muttered and didn’t question why Finland wanted to do it alone. He wasn’t afraid of the thunder but he didn’t enjoy it either so he was just happy that the Finn didn’t force him to come with. There had been time that he had run to his brother when weather got too stormy. 

The rain was getting harder and Finland didn’t come back. Iceland waited in the small hole and after each passing moment he got more worried. He was counting the time between lightning and thunder and there was already so much water that it had started to drip into his shelter. He switched a bit trying to avoid the water drops, but still stay close the opening so he could see when the Finn was coming back. But no matter how hard he looked, Finland didn’t return. Finally, Iceland decided that he would count to one hundred and then go to look for him. Finland was strongest of them so he should be okay, but Iceland was getting too worried. Anything could happen in the forest and the thunder was almost right over them. 

He got to one hundred, took a deep breath and said goodbye to somehow warm and dry before he crawled out from the small shelter. It didn’t take long for the rain to make him soaking wet and he kept hunching down every time the lightning brought quick, while light to otherwise almost completely dark forest. He reminded himself about the fact that he would probably not die if it hit him. It would hurt for sure but he would survive. He mumbled that to himself and walked in the direction he had seen Finland going. 

“Fin!” he yelled, trying his best to overcome the thunder and rain fall, “Fin!” He didn’t hear any reply so he walked further, trying to remember which way they had come and how the environment had looked in sunlight. The heavy clouds really blocked all the light and the rain had made the ground muddy. His steps were slipping and he knew there were some low ditches around so he tried to stay near trees. He managed quite well until he got spooked by the sudden lightning. He knew the thunder was almost right over him, but when it filled the forest with white, blinding light, his instincts screamed him to run for the safe and he jumped on side. His feet tried to find hold on muddy ground and his body keep the balance, but few side steps and slipping took him to the edge of ditch. He fell backwards and landed on his arm. The unnatural noise of bone snapping in two and the smell of blood terrified him more than thunder. For a couple of seconds his body’s shock reaction kept the pain away, but it gave up soon and he screamed when he felt the burning pain. His panicked mind realized that he couldn’t move his arm and for a while that was the only thing he could focus on. 

“Islanti!” He heard Finland calling him, but he was too deep in shock to do anything more than cry and yell. His mind told him to flee, but there wasn’t way to escape the pain of his broken arm. He felt another person coming closer and just before arms wrapped around him, he realized it was Finland. 

“Calm down, calm down”, the Finn said, switching to his heavily accented Icelandic in hopes it would calm the Icelander more, “I am here. It is okay. Just calm down.” Iceland whimpered, but at least the soft voice and somewhat warm body against his helped him to stop yelling. He still felt the pain and unmoveable arm terrified him, but at least he could think clearer. 

“You left me”, he said between snitch.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean it”, Finland swore, “the rain surprised me. I was staying under trees.” 

“My arm…”, Iceland muttered and turned to look at the limb that was now just hanging on his side. Finland stopped him by pressing his head against his shoulder.

“It is broken”, he said, “don’t look. It will only make you feel nauseous and panic.” Iceland didn’t have any will or power to resist the Finn so he let his face been pressed against the man. They were both soaking wet and muddy from falling and sitting down on the ground, but it didn’t really matter. The pain was fading a bit and Iceland felt Finland moving a bit so he could carefully inspect the broken arm. Iceland closed his eyes when the fingers touched the broken skin over the fracture.

“Is, how are you feeling?” Finland whispered. The thunder was already going past them, though the lightning still coloured the sky and water rained down.

“Not good”, Iceland whispered back.

“It is okay. Your body will fix this soon”, Finland promised, “but…”

“But?” Buts were never good, Iceland knew it well enough. He hated it when people said but and then had too long pause right after. 

“The bone is completely broken and in wrong position”, Finland said quickly with almost professional tone. He had done this before too, “I will have to move them so it will heal correctly. Otherwise your body will just leave the bone like this and your arm will be forever… Cornered.”

“You mean crooked?” 

“Yes, crooked”, Finland said, “I am not really good with Icelandic.”

“You are doing fine”, Iceland mumbled, “you will fix it?”

“Yeah, whenever you are ready”, Finland said, “or well, actually we have to do it right now. I can see the bruises fading already and the bleeding is stopping.”

“Okay, I am ready”, Iceland said and braced himself. Finland moved a bit so he could have a better access to the Icelander’s arm. He took care that Iceland could keep his face away and Iceland was grateful about that. He would be feeling better if it was Denmark or Norway holding him, a small voice in his mind noted, but Finland was comforting enough too. He smelled a bit like spruce and Iceland remembered that Norway smelt like that too. 

“I will count to three”, Finland said, “One…” Iceland screamed when the man suddenly grabbed his arm and snapped the broken pieces back to correct position. His healthy and working hand gripped the man’s shoulder a bit too tightly, but still Finland kept his hold on the younger nation’s arm, taking care that the bone stayed still until the body started to fix it. It would have taken weeks, even months, for human to recover, but their nation skills were speeding up the process and so only couple of minutes were enough for bone to start grow again. Iceland felt the pain fading again and becoming only a dump feeling in background while his arms itched where the bone, skin and muscle were healing up.

“Okay”, Finland sighed and moved his arms back around the Icelander, comforting him so much than he could, “try to not move it and it will be like a new in two days.”

“You sure?” Iceland asked and Finland nodded. He was stroking the Icelander’s hair slowly just like Norway tended to do whenever he was comforting his brother. Iceland guessed that Finn was simply mimicking the Norwegian, though he didn’t know when he had possibly seen him doing so. It had to be happened centuries ago when they all still lived in Denmark’s house.

“I am sure”, he replied. The rain was getting lighter and they were already so wet and muddy that they didn’t even bother with getting under trees or anything. Just sitting there was fine at that moment.

“Good”, Iceland said and tried to ignore the dump pain and itching, “usually people count at least to two before they do things.”

“Well yeah”, Finland said, “I figured you might know about that too. It is easier to get bones right if you are not trying to tense your muscles.”

“I guess”, Iceland mumbled. He felt exhausted and cold, but things were also okay so he just laid there, “we are both gonna get sick after this.”

“Probably yeah”, Finland said and smiled, “but that will not kill us.”

“Luckily.”

Iceland was right because when the next morning came, they were both sniffing and coughing. Iceland even got a small fewer, which luckily went away in few hours. His arm was sore and he had problems with using it, but Finland advised him to just let it be. Iceland agreed and just enjoyed the fact that sun had come back after storm. It warmed up their cold bodies and dried the clothes they had hang on the trees. Because neither had any spare clothes, they ended up staying naked. Iceland though he would find it disturbing, but it actually took just few minutes to get used for nakedness and of course he had been naked in the same room with Finland before. Nobody just made Finnish friends and family members without ending up in the sauna with them at least few times. 

Because of their sickness and Iceland’s poor arm, Finland gradually decided that they could take a longer break and stay in the same spot at least half of the day. Iceland had nothing against of that, though he admitted after few hours that doing nothing was quite boring. 

“Well, it is Saturday”, Finland said, “we should take a bath.”

“Didn’t yesterday count as bath?” Iceland asked dryly and Finland slowly looked up to his still muddy hair. 

“No”, he said, “not really.”

“You might be right”, Iceland muttered- His hair wasn’t the only messy thing, he also had mud on his skin and he understood he smelt horrible. 

“Let’s go to that small lake we saw yesterday and get at least the worst off”, Finland said and got up from the grass, “how is your arm?”

“Feels weird”, Iceland replied, “but it is amazing how even broken bone can heal this fast.”

“It would happen even faster, but you haven’t eaten anything for a while so your body is a bit slowed down”, Finland noted, “and by the way, it is maybe best we don’t tell Nor about yesterday.”

“Yeah”, Iceland replied, “he would be upset.”

“I am not sure how you can call murderous man just ‘upset’, but yeah”, Finland said. Iceland only shrugged and followed the Finn to the lake. He was looking his bare back while walking and thinking about his own things, but soon the scars took his attention. Finland for sure had lot of them, even more than Denmark and Norway had and so Iceland wondered if they were the reason why Norway had said Finland had got things harsher than they. Iceland knew the story behind most of the scars, like the one around the man’s shoulder where his arm had been ripped off and like a miracle it had grown back after the severed limb had been sew on, but there were also many that Iceland had no idea where Finland had got them. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, or if Finland wanted to tell. 

They bathed so well they could without soap and at the end they were just laying in the water, enjoying its slight warmth. Iceland saw three scars from bullets on the Finn’s chest and this time Finland caught him looking.

“They are just some painful memories”, he said with a soft smile, “don’t worry about it.” Iceland opened his mouth, but closed it again quickly because he didn’t really know what to say. He still remembered the pain from last evening and only a thought about how much having an arm ripped off or getting shot would hurt, made him shiver.  He would have got mad from that amount of pain, but still Finland was right there and even smiling. 

“How you do it?” he said after a while.

“Do what?” Finland asked, “get shot? It is all about being in completely wrong place and…”

“No”, Iceland interrupted, “I mean, how you survive?” Finland nodded, but he didn’t reply right away. He only let the water float him and thought about how he could explain something so complicated.

“That is a bit harder”, he finally said with serious but still calming tone, “it is like a mix between remembering and forgetting. You will have to forget to carry on but remember just enough so it all doesn’t stay inside you. It is hard to get over things, but there is always something to focus on. Something that will give hope and will to see the next day. Sometimes it is just petty things, like the simply curiosity of seeing what will happen next, and sometimes big things. One just must find the thing to keep them going on. It is worth of it.” Iceland nodded.

“What kept you going?” This time Finland smiled.

“My love”, he said, “and proudness, stubbornness and the simply fact that I was an asshole enough to not give up when they told me to do so.” 

“Sounds like you”, Iceland muttered and looked down to his own arms and body. He didn’t have scars. He had got hurt before, but all those small scars had faded with time, leaving his skin untouched. Only his newest accident still marked his body with slightly red bruise. 

“It is not a shame”, Finland said suddenly, almost startling the Icelander. 

“What?” Iceland asked.

“It is not a shame”, Finland repeated, “to been sheltered. Nor and Dan kept you safe and that is exactly how was right.” Iceland nodded, wondering how the Finn knew what he had been thinking about. 

“I have never even fought”, he said, “or been missing anything. Since they found me, I have had everything. Even when they didn’t have anything. They still took care I was okay.”’

“They would do it again anytime.” Iceland nodded. He knew they would.

“I was asshole”, he muttered, “no wonder Nore was so angry when he found out about university. He literally gave me everything and then I didn’t trust him even about such a small thing because I thought it is embarrassing.” He wrapped his healthy arm around himself and put his chin on his knees. When he was sitting, the water reached barely his half back.

“He forgives”, Finland said with a smile, “brothers do that.”

“Yeah”, Iceland muttered, “hey, Finland?”

“Yes?”

“Do you like to be a personification?” 

“Of course”, he said with a smile, “I love life.” Iceland nodded and didn’t ask more. He had got all the answers he wanted to have. 

They waited until their clothes were completely dry and then they started to walk again. Finland said that they still had two days walk ahead, which meant they were going to be a bit late. IT worried Iceland because he knew others were waiting for them, but Finland was sure they would understand the delay. Iceland only nodded and focused on walking. His arm healed just like Finland had said it would, and soon there was only a thin scar showing where the bone had been fractured. 

The last two days they continued like normally with Finland telling things and Iceland following him. They stopped occasionally for rest and to drink and eat anything they could find. The week-long adventure started really to show on them. Their hairs were messy, skin covered with bruises and nails broken while they had climbed over the stones. Clothes had also got a bit worn and skin burnt because of the summer sun. Iceland didn’t even count anymore how many times he had tripped on roots or fell in rivers, though he got some sadistic fun from remembering the moment when Finland had climbed up to tree to see their route and then fell down. They hadn’t seen any other persons for the whole week and even animals had avoided them, being alerted by the Finn’s voice. Iceland was hungry, tired and he couldn’t wait to get back to civilization. He wasn’t sure if Finland was thinking like that too, because the man still looked like he was having the time of his life. 

“We are there soon”, he said after it had been few hours since they had finally crossed the border to the Finnish land, “in Kalmankaltio.” Iceland frowned. He had heard the name before, but he hadn’t really stopped to think about it. He wasn’t so good with Finnish than he was with Scandinavian languages, but he still knew enough,

“Fin, kalma means death, right?” he asked.

“That is correct”, Finland said with a nod, “the name means… Well, death swamp or something like that.”

“You mean you have a holiday home in place called death swamp?”

“Well, why not?” Finland said, “it is a nice place! And it is not like anybody sacrifices things there anymore.”

“Okay”, Iceland said and shook his head. Finland only laughed. 

When they finally saw the small cabin of Finland, Iceland was ready to sleep for at least few days row and then eat everything edible in the house. Finland also seemed to be eager to return to civilization, though it wasn’t sure if he missed the food or was it just the tall figure stepping out from the house that made Finland almost run.

“Ruotsi!” he yelled happily and hurried to meet the man. That was the moment when Iceland knew the Swedish nation really loved his Finnish man. Anybody else would have pushed the smelly and dirty adventurer away. Definitely only the true love could take somebody who had been wandering in forest for a week. Iceland sighed, but he didn’t get a long break before he was surrounded by Norwegian and Danish nations. 

“Finally, you are back!” Denmark yelled and was clearly rejoiced about having his whole family in the same place again, “goodness, you smell like something that died behind the sofa!”

“Geez, thank you for telling me that”, Iceland muttered.

“We have waited for you days already. What took you so long? Found anything interesting?”, Denmark asked so many questions Iceland stopped listening. Good things that Norway saw how exhausted he was.

“Let Is to take a break”, he told the Dane before turning back to his brother, “come inside. We have food and real beds.”

“Sounds like a luxury”, Iceland muttered.

“I will warm up sauna”, Sweden said and gave the Finn soft look before letting go and walking toward the small building few meters away. Promises about food, rest and cleanness really cheered up the tired Icelander and he decided to follow his stomach calls first. Though he had got used for not eating, now that he was back in real house with a real kitchen, he didn’t hesitate about eating.

“Take it easy so your belly doesn’t get upset”, Finland noted when Iceland started to just stuff in anything he could find. Norway and Denmark followed them, the Norwegian looking slightly worried but the Dane just smiling. Iceland did his best to act like normal, but it was hard to fool Norway. The man kept walking around him, watching and trying to find any hints of problems. Iceland simply ignored him.

“You don’t usually eat like that”, Norway noted and briefly touched his brother’s hair, “and when have you bathed last time?”

“Fresh air makes hungry”, Iceland said, “and it was day before yesterday.”

“That explains the smell”, Denmark noted and leaned closer, “did you got lice?” 

“Your skin is burnt”, Norway said and then he stopped. For a while Iceland didn’t even notice but the way how Norway was staring at him started to bug him soon. He was just opening his mouth when Norway grabbed his arm, that was still feeling a bit strange, and pulled the sleeve up. 

“Finland”, he said darkly after noticing the thin scars. There was no way they could make the man believe it wasn’t what it was. Norway had seen enough wounds to know exactly how Iceland had got that one. 

“Okay, Norja, before you kill…”, Finland started with a sigh, but Iceland snatched his arm back and interrupted him.

“It is okay, Nore”, he said, “yes, I got a bit hurt. It is fine. I survived it.” 

“Finland promised you would not get hurt”, Norway said sternly.

“So what?” Iceland said back, “he also said it was risky. I went with him because I wanted to do so. I am the only one you can blame now.” Norway didn’t reply right away. He only observed the Icelander with his ice-cold eyes, while Iceland stared back. Finland was quietly eating while Denmark stayed on side. Situations like that were hard for the Dane because he loved deeply his whole family and he hated to see them in fight. That of course didn’t stop him to pick fights with Sweden. 

“I see”, Norway finally said and small smile appeared on his lips, “you have grown, my brother.” Iceland was too surprised to say anything, but luckily the Finn was ready.

“So I will not die today?” he asked-

“No.”

“That is definitely great”, he replied, “well, I will go to see how Sve is doing with sauna.” He took the bowl of cereal and walked out, leaving three Nordics alone. Iceland knew the Dane was still full of questions and Norway had calmed down again. They both took a seat and Iceland promptly reminded them he would like to have some sleep first. The questions could wait a bit longer. 

Iceland had never slept so well than he did during the night after their adventure was over and he had never appreciated food or real bath more than then. He slept long until next midday and finally crawled out of the bed for late lunch. Finland had already got up and was sitting on Sweden’s lap, clearly a bit needy for affection after being away for so long. Norway and Denmark were in the living room too, playing chess and giving some snarky comments whenever either did a good move. Finland’s cabin was quite simple and lacked some hight tech things, such as TV and WiFi. Actually, he didn’t even had running water there so they collected their drinking water from well, and the small lamp on kitchen’s ceiling was the only one in the whole cabin. There were only three rooms. Iceland had got own to sleep in, another was for Norway and Denmark, and Finland and Sweden had their makeshift bed in living room that also served as kitchen. It was small, but comfy and gave them a perfect place to escape work and responsibilities. 

“Woah, look who is up!” Denmark yelled when he saw the Icelander, “was the bed too good or what?”

“Was okay”, Iceland mumbled and settled down on the armchair. Norway got up quietly and soon brought him a plate of food. 

“Fin”, Iceland said after he had eaten, and the Finn looked up from the magazine he had been reading, “I am wondering something.”

“What it is?” he asked. 

“The backpack”, Iceland said, “you said you had equipment, but you never used anything. What you had in there?”

“Oh, right, that”, Finland said and smirked, “I can show you.” He got up and went to pick up the backpack he had left in the corner. He simply opened it and turned it upside down so everything inside fell on the floor. Iceland stared at the collection of equipment. First he noted the pan and bowl Finland had used to make the porridge and then he spotted the first aid kit, flash light, knife, matches and small amount of dried fruits and meat in unopened packs. 

“You had all this with you”, he said slowly, “but you didn’t say anything.”

“It was just in case”, Finland explained, “what? I told you I will take care nothing too bad happens.” Iceland stared at him, but somehow he already understood.

“You are the strange one”, he muttered. Finland only smiled and shrugged. 


	18. Interlude: Higher Scandinavian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude chapter: What did the Scandinavians do while Finland and Iceland had their time of lifetime in the wilderness?

“I will take you to airport”, Norway said sternly when Finland and Iceland showed up again from the Icelander’s room, “ _ you _ will stay here.” Denmark and Sweden didn’t miss the order and they were smart enough to just nod. Angry Norwegian was something they both preferred to not deal with, and they also happened to have lot of experience on that from the old days when Norway had been more ruthless. 

So, when the door closed after three Nordics, the two staying in the apartment were sitting in perfect silence. They both had even almost identical pose that would have reminded anybody about some awkward family meeting. Sweden had already eaten the sandwich he had made and Denmark didn’t have anything in is hands either. There they were; just sitting on same sofa and doing nothing. That lasted almost thirty seconds.

“So, Sve”, Denmark said with a slightly unsure voice, “done anything cool lately?” Sweden turned to look at the Dane and slowly raised his eyebrows just a bit to show his confusion.

“Why are you asking?”

“It is called small talk, you stupid Swede”, Denmark replied.

“I know what small talk is”, Sweden muttered, “but we are brothers. You don’t need to ask awkward things.”

“So you would just prefer to sit here awkwardly and be quiet?” Denmark asked and frowned slightly, “no wait, don’t reply for that. Of course, you would like to sit and be quiet. Creep.”

“At least I don’t make a fool out of myself”, Sweden said, “like some Danes.”

“Listen, you…”, Denmark started, but stopped himself just in time, “okay, Sve, you wanna fight? Because that is how you get a fight.” Sweden’s lips turned up just a bit to show how amused he was.

“That would pass some time”, he noted.

“True”, Denmark said with a nod, “but actually it might be bad idea. Nor is already royally pissed off with Fin. Not sure if he would take our fighting well.”

“He would curse us”, Sweden nodded and didn’t mean only foolish language. Angering the Norwegian was sometimes rather risky business.  

“Yeah, let’s skip that. I am not in mood for being magically altered now”, Denmark muttered, “so, wanna play something?”

“What you got?”

“Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.” Sweden gave the Dane another weird look and slowly shook his head.

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked and Denmark laughed. 

“I like the tension of a good game”, he said, “but yeah, we need more players for that.” Sweden nodded and for a while they were quiet.

“I think I might have playing cards with me”, the Swede said.

“Really?”

“Yeah”, he said with a nod, “I play with Fin sometimes to pass time.”

“Well, that is great”, Denmark said and looked excited right away, “let’s play some now!” Sweden nodded and went to get the pack from his jacket’s pocket while Denmark cleaned up a table for them.

“What we gonna play?” Denmark asked.

“Poker?” Sweden asked back, “or anything else would be good too.” Denmark thought about that and soon a grin appeared on his lips.

“I love strip poker”, he said, “how about that?”

“Why would I like to see you naked?” Sweden asked.

“You will not, because I am very good with poker”, the Dane claimed, “and here is the catch; first one completely naked will have to run around the building.”

“Is that illegal in your land?”

“Indeed it is!”

“I am in”, Sweden said right away and started to mix the cards, “this actually sounds something Fin would suggest.”

“Where you think I got the idea?” Denmark asked, “oh by the way, we could mix up money in here too. I could use some extra cash.”

“You seem to be sure about your skills”, Sweden muttered and gave the mixed pack to the Dane for dealing. 

“I know I am good”, Denmark said with a grin.

“Is that why you always end up without money when you play with Norge?” Sweden asked, “and without clothes too.”

“It is different with Nor”, Denmark claimed, “he is even better player than me and when it comes to strip poker… Let’s say that I am more than happy to take off my clothes in front of him!” Sweden gave him a long look.

“That is already more than I want to know”, he said, “deal the cards.”

“Okay, okay”, the Dane muttered and started to deal the cards with experience, “but anyway, how about we check how much cash we have and the winner will have it all?”

“So the one loosing clothes first will run and take a risk with police”, Sweden said, “and the other will win all our cash?”

“Correct!”

“I like that idea.”

“I knew you will like it”, Denmark grinned and clapped his hands, “let’s play!” 

Norway was still in sour mood when he returned from the airport. He had even taken a longer route back, just to calm himself down a bit more, but it didn’t seem to work so well than he hoped so he came back home and just quietly wished that Denmark would help him get out of anger. Usually the Dane had skills to calm him down, though Norway still didn’t know how he did that.

“That damn Finn”, he muttered angrily when he got inside the apartment and kicked his shoes off, not really caring where they ended up to, “I swear I will…” Norway never finished his thoughts about what he would do to the Finnish man, because he stepped into living room and found out what his fellow Scandinavians had been doing. 

“Hey, Nor!” Denmark yelled happily to man who frowned and gave them confused look. The first think he realized was that they both were half naked. Denmark had lost his shirt and socks, and Sweden still had shirt but his pants were off. They had a small pile of money on the table between them; Norway counted at least 155 Swedish crowns and 98 Danish crowns. 

“What in hell you are doing?” he asked and Denmark raised his hand to show the cards he was holding.

“Playing poker”, he said happily, “with our own rules.”

“Okay”, Norway said, “how you ended up with this?”

“Smalltalk”, Sweden muttered and Denmark nodded.

“Yeah, we had a nice small talk”, he said, “and things led to other things and now we are trying to get each other naked.” Norway raised his brow slightly for those words.

“If it was anybody else than you two”, he noted, “I would be now quite worried, but since it is you two… I assume there is a catch?”

“Correct!” Denmark said, “loser will have to run around the building naked and winner gets all the money.”

“Isn’t that a sure way to get fined?” Norway asked and glanced out the window, “it is midday in the busiest area of Copenhagen.” Denmark and Sweden both nodded at the same time, the Dane looking excited and even the stern Swede had hint of amusement on his face. Norway used a moment more to just stare at them and then he nodded too. This might be exactly what he needed to cool down.

“Deal me cards”, he said and threw a 200 crowns bill on the pile, “I want in.”

“Sure, elskede”, Denmark said with a grin. 

Few hours later Denmark and Sweden were both naked and Norway had only lost his tie, socks and opened buttons of his shirt. He smirked at the two nations who seemed to be still unsure what had happened.

“How?” Denmark asked and glanced at Swede, who shrugged.

“No idea”, he replied. Neither moved when Norway calmly collected the money from the table.

“I have mercy”, he said, “you may keep boxers on. Go now. Hop hop.” Both men grunted, but they knew the rules and so they got up, put the boxers on again and went out. They ran fast. Norway watched them from window to make sure they really did so. Despite of the area being busy, the building itself was mostly sheltered, meaning that they were not exposed to great audience. It was humiliating anyway, and Norway was feeling bad enough to actually enjoy it. 

“Okay”, Denmark said when he got back in and started to dress up, “no strip poker.”

“What?” Norway asked, “it was fun.” Denmark glanced at him, bit his lip and then slowly nodded.

“Maybe next time somewhere where there are not so many people around”, he said, “I am still surprised the police didn’t catch us. I will have to write letter to them.”

“They probably have better things to do than fine the personification of their own land for running around almost naked”, Norway noted, “well, any other good ideas?”

“Many”, Denmark said with a grin, “but it is getting late.” Norway glanced out from the window and noted that the Dane was right. Taking Finland and Iceland to the airport had took time and so had also the game. The sun was already setting and Norway remembered that he hadn’t eat much during the day.

“Seems so”, he muttered and walked to the kitchen to see if dinner could be done quickly or he needed to snack something. Denmark passed a shirt to Swede and smiled.

“Wanna stay over here?” he asked, “that old house gets spooky when you are alone there.”

“Sure”, Sweden muttered. He didn’t feel scared about staying in old house alone, after all his own house was rather old too, but he preferred company.

“You can sleep in Island’s room”, the Dane said, “I don’t think he minds.”

Next morning, they all woke up to Norwegian cursing. Denmark, who knew Norway’s habit better, almost fell from the bad in hurry to go to him, and Sweden was startled awake from dream. They both met the furious man in the living room, but couldn’t see anything being wrong.

“What is it?” Sweden asked while Denmark approached more carefully and tried to first figure out the situation before acting. His hand was moving like he was trying to grab a weapon, just following old instincts. 

“That cursed Finn”, Norway muttered angrily, “he has fooled my trolls!”

“What?” Denmark asked while Sweden seemed to get in sour mood because Norway was cursing his loved one, “how?”

“I don’t know”, the Norwegian said, “but somehow he had managed to get them away. They are not following them anymore.”

“Wait”, Denmark said, “you had something following them? You promised you would not do that.” Norway still looked pissed off, but slowly he nodded.

“I believed he would not notice them”, he muttered, but had a slight trace of guilty in his voice.

“Nor”

“I only wanted to have my brother in safe”, the Norwegian said.

“Then you don’t need to worry”, Sweden spoke up, “Fin will take care of him. He knows these things well enough.” Norway glanced at the Swede, almost like trying to see if the man really thought so, but he couldn’t find any doubt in Sweden’s eyes.

“I know”, he admitted, “but…”

“You promised”, Denmark reminded him again, “and you can still feel that they are in your land, right?” Norway nodded slowly.

“That is true”, he muttered and sighed, “maybe I am over-reacting.”

“A bit maybe”, Denmark nodded and placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, “how about we go back to sleep now? It is too early to be up.” Norway nodded and let him to lead him back to bed. The rest of the day was calm as the Norwegian accepted the facts and they all three mostly focused on doing their work. 

Third day started rather normally and this time they all woke up without cursing and in normal time. Norway was still restless about his brother, but Denmark and Sweden’s words calmed him down and the Dane happily noted that the Norwegian wasn’t going so mad he had been when Iceland had tried to hide things from him. 

“Why the Swede is here too?” Denmark asked with a bored tone and looked up from his work.

“Working”, Sweden replied simply. Because they still had work to do, no matter that two of the Nordics were currently somewhere in middle of forest, they were all three sitting in Denmark’s office.

“But you have your own office here”, the Dane said, “why you don’t go there?”

“There are no windows”, Sweden simply replied. 

“Of course not”, Denmark noted, “I wanted to give you the worst room I just could find.”

“Hm.”

“Can you two be nice and stop that”, Norway interrupted, “Dan, you  _ asked  _ Sve to join us.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t mock him about that”, Denmark replied and Norway sighed quietly.

“Actually…”, he started, but the door opened a human woman stepped in. Norway frowned because he didn’t know this person and she hadn’t even knock, but Denmark only grinned when he saw her.

“Well, hello there”, he said, “Icelander.”

“Where is he?” he woman asked sharply and with hided anger in her voice. The three nations gave her almost blank expressions back. Even Denmark looked serious and kind of disturbed by the human.

“Who?” Norway asked and glanced at the Dane, “Dan, who is this woman?”

“Her name is Kristfríður Agnarsdóttir”, Denmark said, “she is one of the spies of Icelandic secret service.”

“Where is he?” the woman demanded to know, “where is my nation?”

“The land mass or…”

“I don’t think she is open for jokes at the moment”, Norway said and observed the woman who indeed looked like she was barely holding herself back, “Island is in good hands. You don’t need to worry about him.”

“Of course, I need to worry about him!” the woman nearly yelled, “it is my duty to worry about him.” The nations glanced at each other, all of them feeling irritated.

“He is with one of us”, Norway said with a hint of coldness in his voice, hid behind politeness. The woman seemed to notice that she was stepping over limits, but either she was too stubborn or too angry to care because she did not give up. 

“That doesn’t matter”, she claimed and looked at the Danish nation, “you did something to him. It was easy to follow him before but now he just kept disappearing and leaving us behind!”

“He asked me to show the tricks”, Denmark said with a shrug, “really, Krist, he is fine.”

“No, he needs us”, Kristfríður, “we can help him.”

“How can humans do something his own family can not?” Norway asked. At that point, Sweden had already decided to stay on side, only giving the woman bad looks because she dared to doubt Finland’s skills of keeping Iceland safe, and Denmark was following Norway’s lead but letting the man answer first. 

“I have read history”, Kristfríður said with quiet and blaming tone, “you have done horrible things to him.” A deep silence followed her words, when the nations stared at her. They were angry now, the strong feeling making their blood boil, but for sake of this human’s life they stayed so calm they could. Norway got up and slowly walked around the table so he could face the woman without anything between them. He crossed his arms and stared, his ice-cold eyes challenging her. 

“The books”, he said with so dangerous tone that even strongest man could have feel the fear, “are lying. Whatever you have read or seen, is not about our life.” The woman was still angry, but now there was also fear on her face. Denmark could see it well and, though he was angry about the blame, he realized that the woman really cared for the personification of her homeland. 

“It is better that you go now”, the Dane said, getting up too but staying on side, “we have been guarding him for centuries, we know what to do.” The woman still hesitated, her fear fighting against her will, but then he gave up and stepped back.

“I will go”, she said, “but I will not forget about this.”

“Do whatever you will”, Norway replied, “why should we care about mortal human’s thoughts? We have been living and we will live much longer than you. In fact, even after you have become mere dust on the ground, we will still be here.” The woman flinched, gave the nations last bad look and quickly left the room. 

“Well”, Denmark said after it was sure she was gone, “I think we managed to piss off lot of Icelanders. Iceland will be so happy to hear about this.”

“This was just a minor conflict”, Norway said and returned to his seat, “he doesn’t need to know about this.”

“Just like he thought you don’t need to know about his studies?” Sweden asked and got an angry look from the Norwegian.

“Sve, I know we have got some fights between us”, Denmark said quickly, “but now would be a good moment to shut up or I don’t know what Nor will do.”

“I am not dangerous, Dan”, Norway replied and glanced at the Dane before he looked at his unfinished work, “well, I am not in mood for this now. Can we go out and do something nice and relaxing?” Two other Scandinavians were quick to agree and they ended up going to sail for a while. 

On the fourth day, the Scandinavians were once again back to work when Norway suddenly flinched and glanced at the Swede who had started to stare at the distance almost at the same time. He even had a small smile on his face and he looked happy. Denmark looked at them both and quickly realized what was going on.

“They crossed the border?” he asked and both men nodded almost at the same time, “cool.”

“Let me know if something happens”, Norway commanded Sweden, who simply nodded though there wasn’t much he could say. Only thing he knew was that they had crossed the border to his side. He didn’t know where they were or if they were moving around. Actually, the next time he would possibly feel anything was when they would cross the border again and even then he could easily miss it if he was sleeping or focusing on something. Norway knew that too. 

“Do you think they are doing fine?” Denmark asked.

“They are”, Sweden replied right away without hesitation, “Finland knows what to do.”

“You put lot of trust on him”, Norway muttered and Sweden glanced at him before nodding

“I would trust him with my life”, he said with serious voice and returned to his work. Other two followed his example and for a while the room was quiet and only voice was the tapping of keyboard, papers moved around and occasional questions and comments. After an hour or so Sweden got up and left, only to return soon with cookies and coffee for all of them. It was his duty to take care of the coffee breaks after all. 

Just a bit before lunch, Norway suddenly slammed his laptop closed and sighed. Denmark, who had been sitting next to him dropped his pen and almost hit his head on the wall when he startled. 

“What?” he asked and looked around to see the possible reason for Norwegian’s sudden change of mood.

“I can’t do this”, Norway replied, “I keep thinking about them. I need something else to focus on. Something that is not work.”

“How about me?” 

“Dan”, Norway sighed, “you are wonderfully amusing person, but I need something else now. Something that will keep me busy all the time.”

“Well”, Denmark said and didn’t let the rejection to put him down, “I might have an idea.”

“Good one?” Sweden asked. He was still doing his work and mostly ignoring other two nations. 

“All my ideas are good”, Denmark replied, “what if we start our travel already now?” I know we were just gonna fly to North, but maybe we should take a slower way and have some fun at the same time.”

“Which kind of way you mean?” Norway asked and Denmark smiled when he heard the man was getting interested.

“First train to Stockholm”, he started to explain, “then ferry over the Baltic sea to Helsinki where we will take Fin’s car and drive it up to his cottage. That will easily take at least three days.” Norway thought about it, but soon he nodded.

“Let’s do that”, he said, “you are coming too, Sve?”

“Not going to let you in my land without supervising”, the Swede replied and closed his laptop. 

The train travel turned out to be quite calm and without any bigger accident, though the Scandinavians ended up playing cards again, this time not with stripping but at the end Norway had got a bit more cash again. The train car was full so they had to think about what they said so nobody would suspect them about anything. That lead them being either quiet or just talking about some common topics like tv-programs or weather. Denmark amused himself for hour or so with trying to figure out if he knew more than 200 words for snow. 

They arrived to Stockholm on time and, because the ferry would not leave until evening and they had six hours to spend before that, they decided to stay in the city for a while. Sweden seemed to be happy to just be home again, but Denmark had different idea.

“So, what we do now?” he asked, “anything new around here? Or just the old boring Stockholm?”

“There is always new things”, Sweden grunted.

“Like what?”

“Museum”, the Swede replied and Denmark gave him a long look.

“Museum? Why we should be interested in museum? They always get things wrong and…”

“It is Viking museum.”

“…I want to see it!” Denmark changed his mind suddenly, “show the way, Swede!”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Norway asked and the Swede shrugged.

“Keeps him busy”, he noted and that was exactly what happened. Denmark turned out to be more than excited about Viking exhibition and they spent lot of time with both, exploring and sharing memories. They almost had to run to the ferry because they got lost in their own past.

“I don’t understand why Finny always says these ferries are wild places”, Denmark noted after they had been sailing for few hours, “it seems to be pretty tame.” Most of the passengers were tourist and there were lot of families too. It seemed to be far from the parties the Finnish nation had been descripting.

“This is not weekend ferry”, Sweden noted, “those are more… Lively.” 

“Aww”, Denmark said, “did we miss the fun?” Norway, who had been watching around already for a while, shrugged and chuckled quietly.

“I am sure there will be some fun coming later”, he said and pointed at group of people who were clearly ready to party, “just wait till most of the young ones are sleeping.” Denmark grinned and nodded. They had eaten at the ferry’s buffer, which meant they were all full and Denmark had got good chance to express his opinion about Swedish food, and then ate that food anyway. After dinner, they went through the shops, but none was interested on shopping so they soon ended up sitting in the lobby and just watching people passing by. 

“I will go out for a while”, Norway excused himself when his restless feeling returned after being away all day. Denmark and Sweden nodded and returned to their discussion about good and bad sides of being drunk in the ferry. Norway had stopped listening them long time ago so he didn’t feel like he was missing something when he walked out and leaned against the rail. Thanks for the long summer nights, he could still see well even thought it was almost midnight. Norway looked at the sea and let his thoughts go free. Sailing and sea had always been calming things to him, though this ferry was far from small boats he was more used to and Baltic sea wasn’t exactly like the Northern sea he usually looked at. It was still good enough to lull him into peaceful trance and help him to worry less about his brother. He knew he should just trust on Sweden’s word and believe that Finland could handle everything.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Denmark found him. The Dane smiled, wrapped his arms around the Norwegian and kissed his cheek before he sighed happily and looked out to the sea.

“You okay?” he asked and Norway nodded.

“Of course”, the Norwegian replied, “I am just thinking.”

“That is good”, Denmark replied and Norway leaned against him just a bit more to show that he appreciated the company, “any special thoughts?”

“Lot”, Norway hummed, “but nothing that I haven’t think about before. Just some normal things about life and world.”

“Hm, okay”, Denmark said and smiled, “would you like to see something really funny?”

“How funny?”

“So funny that we will be laughing years after this”, Denmark promised, “especially if we get a video.”

“Interesting”, Norway said, “tell me more.”

“Well, we were just talking with Sve about normal things and then these ladies appeared”, the Dane said with a smirk, “rather lovely Finnish ladies who took instant interest on our Swedish brother. Poor man, he is now struggling with getting those slightly drunk ladies off him. Last time I saw them, he was being dragged into karaoke.”

“Why he just doesn’t go away from them?” Norway asked.

“Because he has some weaknesses”, Denmark noted, “and his main one is Finnish. Like, all Finnish. He doesn’t want to be rude because those ladies are Finny’s people, and we both know he sucks with expressing himself so he is stuck now with everybody flirting with him.”

“Sounds like we should safe him”, Norway muttered.

“Yeah sure”, Denmark said, “but let’s take some evidence first. I want to see Finny’s reaction to this.”

“Of course”, Norway said and smirked, “let’s do that first and then we help him out.”

“Or we could just leave him and go to make out in the cabin”, Denmark suggested when they started to walk back in.

“We have responsibilities, Dan”, Norway noted, “and one of them is to help Sverige to escape from Finns.”

“This gotta be the first time ever he  _ wants  _ to escape from Finns!”

“Still.”

The morning found the three nations standing in the ferry terminal and trying to figure out which bus would take them close to Finland’s home. Their night in the ferry had been going on nicely. Denmark and Norway eventually picked up the Swede and freed him from his new fan club. The good thing was that the ladies haven’t been too straight forward with him. Mostly they had just bought him silly drinks and tried to get him talk and flirt with them. Denmark was still determinate to show all the photos and videos to Finland right when he had a chance, and that’s why Sweden was plotting a grim fate for Dane’s phone.  

“Why is this language so strange and complicate?” Denmark asked out loud while reading the bus timetable, “like how can a person understand this shit? It makes no sense at all.”

“That is Swedish, Dan”, Norway said.

“I know. It is stupid”, Denmark said and smirked when he looked up, “Oh, hey, the Finnish version is here too. This is much better!”

“Hm”, Sweden grunted and gave the Dane a look, but he was too tired to fight about it. They had been up late because after the Swedish rescue mission, they had went to their cabin but instead of sleeping they had played poker again and now Norway had extra 150 crowns in his pocket. 

“I believe that bus is the right one”, Norway nodded toward the one arriving, and after brief look Sweden nodded. He visited Finland quite often and, though the Fin usually picked him up, he had also taken the public transportation often enough to remember how it worked. They got in and soon it turned out they had been right because they did end up into the right place.

Because Finland had left his phone, they couldn’t call him about taking his car. They just assumed that it would be okay and Sweden had key anyway. Denmark also added that it wasn’t first time they took things without asking first and though they didn’t really raid places anymore, taking Finland’s car was just nice way to honour the past. Norway and Sweden both gave the Dane a long look after he said that, but agreed anyway. 

The drive to north took another day and even in the car they somehow managed to do their new favourite hobby; playing cards. Norway earned more cash while Sweden and Denmark tried to understand how he did it even when he was driving the car at the same time. Otherwise the road trip was rather boring and they stopped several times to rest or just do something to pass a bit more time.  Sweden, who was frequent visitor in Finland’s land, was familiar with everything and easily took a lead when they made their way through the land. 

“We should go to shop”, Norway noted when they were already quite near their destination and Denmark had took a turn to drive, “so we will have something to eat for the week.”

“True”, Denmark muttered, “I bet those two will be hungry after such a walk.” They had stopped for a night in Rovaniemi, Denmark had wanted to meet with Santa Claus and Norway had too soft heart to deny that wish, and then continued their way at morning. 

“Can we find a place to swim again?” the Dane asked. He had realized that swimming in the lakes was lot of fun and something Norway and Sweden liked too, so they did stop whenever they found nice place. 

“Sure”, Norway muttered, “we still got some time before they will arrive.” Sweden nodded too. He hadn’t felt the two Nordics crossing border yet, though it was possible they had done it during night. He wouldn’t even be surprised if Finland decided that night hiking was a good idea. Norway tended to get restless when he thought about his brother, but the constant moving seemed to help him to stay calmer. 

“It looks like there is a storm coming”, he noted after a while and looked up to dark clouds gathering over them.

“Just a normal summer storm”, Sweden muttered, “it has been warm lately.”

“What if they faced a storm too?” Norway said worriedly. 

“I think Finny can figure out way to survive it”, Denmark said with a shrug, “and Island is not stupid either. Remember, Nor, he used to travel around with us and it was more than once we had to be out during the storm.”

“But he was also afraid that”, Norway reminded the Dane.

“It was centuries ago”, Denmark noted, “he is fine with it now, and I told him it is just Thor driving around and messing up things.”

“I know”, Norway muttered, “he asked me to speak with Thor about it.”

“So, did you?”

“He hasn’t yet replied to my contacting requests”, the Norwegian said, “pity. I would have so much to talk with him about.”

“I can believe that”, Denmark said, “hey, Sve, is that shop okay?” He pointed at the sign next to road and Sweden nodded.

“It is okay”, he replied, “also only shop near. We don’t have choice.” 

“It will never stop amazing me how empty this place is”, Denmark said and shook his head, “like where are the people? Is there anything else than reindeers?”

“They just prefer it this way”, Sweden muttered, “you will see people in the shop.”

“Or just more reindeers”, Denmark muttered and took the right turn to the shop’s parking lot, “never know about Finns.”

Despite of Denmark’s doubt, there was no reindeers in the shop and they managed to get everything they needed for whole week. They had some problems with picking up something Finland and Iceland would like to have. Norway didn’t care about Finland’s preferences at all, because he was still pissed off with the man, but Sweden was still loyal and picked up everything the Finn liked. 

Eventually, after the long drive, they ended up to the Finland’s cottage. Once again, Sweden was most familiar with the place so not only he had drove the last part, he also started to fix the place to be liveable again. Finland hadn’t been there during previous winter or summer, so there was lot of things to clean up and organize. The first thing he did, was to order Norway and Denmark fetch water from the well. They managed to get lost so the Swede’s next mission, after he had checked the roof was still okay and sauna in working condition, was to find the couple. 

“Where are they?” Norway asked when everything was ready, but they were still waiting rest of the Nordics to show up. 

“Calm down”, Denmark said and rubbed the man’s arm, “it is long hike. Anybody could get a bit delayed.”

“I am calm”, Norway muttered and sighed when he looked out from the window again. They were now mostly just waiting. Playing cards had been banned after Sweden and Denmark both ran out of the cash, and nobody had interest on any other games or hobbies. Also, somebody had to keep the road on eye so they would not miss Finland and Iceland coming back, and apparently, they all had decided to be one to do that. So, they had moved chairs near the window and now were all three just sitting there and waiting. Denmark was hugging Norway, who kept tapping his fingers against the table, showing his impatience.

“Are you sure you don’t know if they have crossed the border?” Norway asked and Sweden nodded. This wasn’t the first time Norway asked that and Sweden was getting tired with giving the same answer. He hadn’t felt them crossing the border, but that didn’t surprise him and he was quite sure they were already near the cottage. Sweden was patiently waiting for to meet his loved one again. 

Finally, the moment came and the Scandinavians could stop waiting and worrying. The first one to see the other two Nordics were Sweden. He saw two figures approaching and easily recognized them, his heart skipping a beat when he saw Finland again. He didn’t bother to say anything, only got up and ran out, trusting that Denmark and Norway would catch up right away. 

“Ruotsi!” Finland yelled and run to the man when he saw him. Sweden was ready and wrapped his arms tightly around the Finn, not caring about the smell or dirt. 

“I have missed you”, he whispered and Finland replied with happy hum and nod to show he had missed too. Sweden heard Norway and Denmark gathering around Iceland to check how he had been, but Sweden wanted to be with Finland first. He could always ask about Iceland’s feelings later and the Icelander was anyway already surrounded. 

“Was it good hike?” he asked.

“Very good”, Finland replied quietly, still holding the Swede and enjoying being with him again, “I think I managed to teach something.”

“Great”, Sweden replied and heard Denmark inviting the Icelander to come and eat something. He knew Finland was probably hungry too and they both needed a bath, so with some hesitation he stepped back from the Finn.

“I will warm up sauna”, Sweden said and gave the man soft look before letting go and walking toward the small building few meters away. Finland nodded and followed others inside.


	19. Higher problem

Iceland simply rested most of the holiday week he had got with his family. He had long sleeps during the nights because nobody wanted to interrupt his slumber, and during the days he either took walks around, read a book, did things with others or napped wherever he wanted. Usually at least few of his family members would have commented on his lazy habits, but they seemed to understand that he was tired and so they left him alone. After all, he hadn’t had holiday for a while and he deserved some rest before he got back to work. 

While he rested, his family did whatever they thought was a good way to spend holiday. They fished, picked berries, got lost somewhere, tried to capture a reindeer for reasons Iceland never figured out, played board games, had a fight because of incorrect facts in Trivial Pursuit and they couldn’t decide if the point came from the correct one or what was written in the card, and completely ignored all the responsibilities. The last part was easy, there was no mobile network and without a phone or internet it was simply impossible to contact anything. Finland even said that the national postal system didn’t know about the place so they were completely isolated. Everything was so calm and fun that, when the time to return home finally arrived, Iceland was honestly feeling sad about leaving the small cabin in middle of nowhere. 

“It is just best that we go now”, Finland noted with a smile after he spotted the Icelander’s sad look, “a week is just long enough time that we will have still fun but we will not get so pissed off that we start to yell out to each other.”

“Fin is right”, Norway said and nodded, “it is lovely to spend time together, but in such a small house we would sooner or later get cranky and bothered. For sure that would lead to nothing good.”

“I guess it would be so”, Iceland muttered. He had already seen the first symptoms of too much time spent in a small space together in way how Sweden and Denmark started to get livelier with arguments. So, he packed whatever he had with him and was glad that he didn’t need to walk back the same way he had arrived. Sweden, Norway and Denmark had drove Finland’s car up from Helsinki and they would all travel back there with it. Finland took the first turn to drive while the Scandinavians settled on back seats. Iceland got the luxury of having the front seat, though he knew he would have to give it up when they stopped for a break. They had made some rules for road trips, including that the driver would be changed after every few hours, and the one having passenger’s front seat was responsible of checking their route. Because of the front seat was privileged position with more space for legs and better views outside, they also took turns for it. 

It would have taken over a day’s drive to get down to Helsinki, so they stopped in midway and simply camped outside because none of them was willing to do so ling drive in one go. They had suitable equipment for short camping and especially Finland and Iceland, who had spent already a week outside without any luxury, were more than okay with sleeping outside. 

When they finally arrived at Finn’s home, they were all tired of guessing games and other ways to spend a long car drive. They spent one last night in the same place because they had got flights for the following day. 

“Well, it was nice to spent some time together”, Finland said when he and Sweden followed three other nations to the airport. They didn’t have tickets so they could only come to the gate to a security check, from where Norway, Denmark and Iceland would continue to their flights. Norway was going to Oslo because he had few meetings to attend now that the holiday was over, and Denmark and Iceland were going to return to Copenhagen.  

“True”, Norway agreed and glanced up to the screen to check if his flight was still on time, “are you staying here, Sve?” Sweden, who hadn’t made any attempt to pack or leave so far, nodded.

“Few days more”, he said and looked softly at the Finn who smiled back.

“I so hope you didn’t get too wild in my home while you were staying alone over there”, Denmark said and smirked. He had preferred to spend his time with Iceland and Norway in his city apartment instead of in the bigger house he usually used. That had given Finland and Sweden more space while they hanged out in the Dane’s land during Iceland’s practice.

“Your roof had holes”, Sweden muttered, “fixed those.”

“I appreciate that”, Denmark said with a short nod, “but seriously? You had the whole damn house and the target of your undying love with you, and you decided to sit up on roof to fix some holes?”

“I was there too”, Finland added.

“What the heck were you doing on my roof?”

“Keeping company, mostly”, Finland said with a shrug, “well, I think you should go now. Island.”

“What?” Iceland said. He had been looking at the people going past and almost startled when the Finn said his name. The Dane of course saw that and sniggered quietly. 

“Good luck with studies”, Finland said warmly, “feel free to come to visit if you need a break. There are several flights from Copenhagen every day.”

“Yeah, sure”, Iceland muttered, “thanks, Fin.”

“There is a train to Skåne every twenty minutes”, Sweden added helpfully and Iceland nodded.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Denmark said loudly, “don’t try anything funny, Svea!”

“It is a good train.”

“Well, anyway”, Norway interrupted, “we should go now. See you all soon again.” Sweden and Finland nodded almost at the same moment, and the Nordics did a quick goodbye round before three of them walked to the security check while two others went home. 

Norway’s flight was going to leave only ten minutes before the flight to Copenhagen, so he kept them company for a while. When the time to leave came closer, Iceland found the two Scandinavians holding onto each other. He quietly sat down on the bench nearby and just watched them, knowing that proper goodbyes were important for them. He still remembered the time when they were forced to hide because two men doing anything more than shaking hands was way too much. He was happy that they could finally even kiss in public and nobody minded about it.

Norway’s arms were around the Dane’s shoulder, one just resting there and another playing with his hair. Denmark had placed his right hand on the man’s waist and his left was on his back, pushing the Norwegian against his chest. The Dane was resting his chin on Norway’s shoulder, his mouth slightly touching the pale skin. He didn’t speak, but Norway’s lips were moving when he whispered something to the Dane with barely audible voice. Whatever he was saying, it was something important and lovely because the Dane had a calm look on his face. They stayed like that for few minutes, just holding each other and looking more like a young love instead of their centuries long romance, but then Norway stopped whispering and that was a sign to go. Slightly hesitating Denmark removed his arms around the Norwegian and only softly touched his cheek before kissing him. Just one, lovely kiss. No tears because they would see soon again, but still the yearning already in their eyes. Norway ruffled the Dane’s hair last time, picked up his suitcase and walked to Iceland.

“Be good”, he said and briefly touched his brother’s cheek, “take care of Dan for me, would you?”

“Nore”, Iceland said, “you will come back after three weeks.”

“Three weeks is enough time for anything to happen”, Norway said, “there was a time… Well, it is past now.”

“Sure, Nore”, Iceland sighed, “I will look after him.” Norway smiled and walked over to boarding desk, where people were already getting in the plane. Denmark sat down next to Iceland, but kept his eyes on Norway, waving his hand when Norway turned to look at them for before disappearing inside. Then the Dane sighed deeply.

“I love him”, he said. 

“Trust me”, Iceland muttered, “I have noticed that. Everybody has noticed that.” Denmark nodded and kept looking at Norway’s flight thought their own had started to board. Iceland poked his side and nodded toward the queue so the Dane would get up and move. Luckily, he got a hint so Iceland didn’t need to hit him again.

“Any plans for next week?” Denmark asked when they were getting seated in the plane. 

“Studying”, Iceland muttered, “you?”

“Work.”

“Lucky you.”

***** 

After few first days back to school, Iceland realized how big mistake he had done when he decided to have his practice during the summer. Because he had now completed all his studies but theses, he had absolutely nothing to do. For first time in months, he was bored. 

“Maybe you could start to prepare for your thesis”, Julia commented and the Icelander sighed. Actually, he was preparing for it. There were lot of courses on how to write thesis and choice the topic. Iceland himself didn’t care about that much, but his lovely and traitorous fellow countrymen had reminded him about his duties. Barely had the plane landed in Kastrup, when Iceland had already got a message from his boss saying that he was expecting the nation to finish his studies on time and with satisfying results. Iceland had laughed dryly out loud when he noticed they didn’t ask him to do even good results. Satisfying was enough. Another reason, why he was still going to campus almost every day, was the way how Denmark looked at him if he tried to be lazy. The Dane never said anything but the disappointment in his eyes was enough to made Iceland to get up and going. 

“I should first find a topic”, Iceland muttered almost darkly, but still Carl sniggered.

“That is what you get when you don’t do it during the summer”, he said and got a look from the Icelander. When they had first time met up after summer, or more like others had found Iceland who had just being sitting in the lobby, they had asked how his summer had been and what he had decided about his thesis. Iceland had dodged most of questions about his summer, only mentioning that he had holiday in Finland, because it was a secret what he had done with his brothers, but his confused look had made humans ask more questions. Soon they had found out that the Icelander had completely forgot about thesis. 

“Be nice”, Julia said to her boyfriend, “he still has one and half week time to decide. I am sure everything will turn out okay.”

“I can just post-pone”, Iceland muttered. After all, his graduation would change nothing in his life. He was still economically stable thanks to the fact that his country was still paying him salary and he also had lot of savings, and after graduation he would just return to his normal life and try to forget about the whole university experience. 

“Do you really want to be enrolled for half year more?” Carl asked and after a brief thinking the Icelander shrugged.

“I guess not”, he mumbled and hoped that others would go back to talk about their summer. He had listened only partly but it seemed they all had have fun. Carl had spent most of it with Julia and her family. They had easily accepted the polite and timing young man into their family. Tomas had been in the Netherlands with his wife, until the said wife decided they should do a round-trip across the Europe. It became clear from Tomas’ stories, that his wife just as a free spirit as he was. 

“Hey, but did you hear about that thing happening in the…” Tomas started to talk so fast that he almost stumbled in his own words. Iceland let a small sigh and was happy about the distraction from his own problems. Sadly, that didn’t last long.

“I am sorry”, he said when his phone started to ring, “I will have to take this one.” Tomas and Carl were too engaged into an argument about some on-coming event, but Julia glanced at the Icelander and nodded. Iceland walked on side and slid his finger over the screen to accept the call.

“ _ Hey, Icey-boy!” _ the puffin’s voice said loudly and Iceland almost moved the phone away, “ _ long time no hear, huh?” _

“Hi”, Iceland replied, “where did you get a phone?” The mystery of how the bird could have got one and was able to make a call was still bothering the Icelander.

“ _ Tsk, tsk, curiosity killed a cat, you know _ ”, the bird replied, “ _ anyway, Icey, I have something to tell you. Something that will probably make your day like ten times worse, but that is life. You gotta be disappointed.”  _

“Oh great”, Iceland muttered, “so, what is it?”

“ _ Sounds like you already got a crabby day _ ”, the puffin said, “ _ or it is just normal you. Hard to tell.” _

“Puffin”, the nation said, “I want to hear what is wrong.”

“ _ Yeah, that _ ”, the bird said and made his laughing sound, “ _ we got a problem, Icey-boy.”  _

“And?”

“ _ And I will not tell ya _ ”, the puffin said loudly.

“How I am then supposed to do anything to fix that problem?” Iceland frowned and tried to think about what it would be. Sadly, he couldn’t recall anything specific that could be wrong and it was hard to guess anything from the way how the bird spoke.

“ _ You gotta take your butt over here _ ”, the bird said, “ _ come home, Icey-boy.” _ It had been already long time since Iceland had visited his own land. He had spent the whole summer away and even most of the spring he had stayed in Denmark’s land. When he thought about his own place, he felt the yearning once again. 

“Okay”, he said, “I will return as soon as possible.”

“ _ Good _ ”, the bird said, “ _ not gonna pick you up from airport. Cars are so not made for puffins.” _

“I will figure something out”, Iceland muttered, “but puffin, how is…” The irritating sound of ended connection interrupted the Icelander and he sighed. Of course, the bird wasn’t going to answer for questions. Iceland checked the caller info, only to notice that the phone number was listed as unknown and it would be impossible to call it back.

“That damn smart bird”, Iceland muttered while returning to his small group. He was planning to go back to Denmark’s apartment, but no matter how much he wanted to be alone, he had been taught to be polite and so he would at least say goodbye before leaving. Three humans were still sitting at the corner table and discussing about the event Iceland still knew nothing about. 

“How was it?” Julia asked after noticing the sour look on the Icelander’s face.

“It was fine”, he said, “just got some things to do at home. I think I will have to fly to Iceland soon.” It always felt weird to speak about his land and use his own name like that, but it just made more sense than telling them he was going to visit his land. 

“Oh, that is cool!” Tomas said happily, “I would like to go there too.”

“Same here”, Carl said, “I changed a flight there once but it was just few hours wait so I didn’t have time to go around.”

“I haven’t been there either”, Julia admitted, “but it is in my travel list.” Iceland shrugged, but the humans were already getting ideas. Like usually, Tomas was the first one to say them out loud.

“We should go with you!” he said, “right, guys? We got some extra time now that classes just started. Small holiday in another country would not hurt.”

“I would like that”, Carl said and glanced at Julia, “what you think?”

“Why not?” Julia said while Iceland started to get nervous, “we will be busy soon again so it would be better to travel now.” Iceland quickly hid the signs of his small panic when the humans looked at him.

“Uh, well”, he said, “I am not sure if you will get tickets. I will have to go already this weekend.”

“No problem”, Tomas said and showed his phone, “I managed to find a good last-minute deal!” 

“Perfect”, Carl said and leaned closer to see the fly information, “even direct flights.”

“I am afraid I will have not much time to spend with you”, Iceland muttered, “and my home is kind of small.” In fact, he had a house with two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and living room. It was small when compared to Denmark’s almost manor and Norway’s cosy home in middle of forest, but it was still big enough to host all the Nordics when they decided to visit. Usually Iceland gave the extra bedroom to Norway and Denmark, because Finland and Sweden were willing to sleep in the living room without whining about it. He just didn’t want humans in there because there were too many secrets and he had no idea what the puffin had done there during past months.

“It is okay, Erik”, Julia said with a smile, “we are capable adults who can be proper tourists without guidance.”

“That is true”, Tomas said and nodded, “we will just go around sightseeing while you do your stuff. And I think we could get a place in hostel or something.”

“True”, Carl agreed too and Iceland bit his lip.

“The weather is also awful around this time of year”, he muttered, “really rainy and windy.”

“So”, Tomas said slowly, “exactly like in Denmark?”

“Yes, almost”, Iceland sighed. The humans looked at each other and Carl nodded at Julia, silently giving her a sign to say something. Tomas might have been the one to speak up first, but Julia knew best what to say.

“Erik”, she said and still smiled, “honestly speaking, are you okay with us coming to visit your homeland?” Iceland knew he should say it was not okay. He had too many secrets to keep and by inviting them into his land, they would get closer to him. It was too great risk and he knew it, but when he looked at them and saw smiles and excited looks, he knew he could not be so rude. 

“Of course, it is okay”, he muttered and managed a small smile, “I am just worried that you will get bored.”

“Oh, Erik”, Tomas said with a laugh, “don’t worry! We will find things to do. I will book the tickets now and we will start to plan.”

“Yeah sure”, Iceland muttered, “I will have to go now. My brother has a day off and he wants to eat lunch with me. See you tomorrow.” The humans nodded and waved good byes after him, but Iceland was already deep in his thoughts. He felt slightly confused about how he had handled the situation, but he pushed that feeling back and instead focused on two more important things. Firstly, he had to figure out how to keep his secrets even when he was in his own land with his class mates. Secondly, he still didn’t know about the problem the puffin had talked about. He couldn’t do much for the second problem, but it made him feel a bit better that it hadn’t been his boss calling. For sure it would have been his boss instead of magically talkative bird if something was horribly wrong.

The first problem was complicated, but luckily, he already had an idea about how he could fix it. He knew well that Denmark was good with lying. The man had fooled even Norway for months when he had kept Iceland’s whereabouts as a secret, so few unsuspecting humans would be an easy job for him. Iceland was even sure that Denmark would be more than happy to follow him for this small and sudden weekend trip. He hurried a bit because he was feeling too worried and he was getting late for the lunch. He hadn’t been lying about Denmark wanting to eat the lunch with him, that was the plan and the reason why he hadn’t got any carefully packed Danish sandwiches with him that morning.

“I have a problem”, Iceland said right after he got in the apartment. Denmark, who had been making their lunch in the kitchen, peeked over the corner and looked worried.

“Okay”, he said and dried his hands with kitchen towel, “just a moment, I will get my axe.”

“Not that kind of problem”, Iceland muttered.

“Well, pity”, Denmark said, “so?”

“I will have to go back to my land”, the Icelander said with slightly upset tone, “and my class mates wants to come with. They are even getting tickets already.”

“Isn’t that like opposite of problem?” Denmark asked, “no offense, but you gotta hang out with people a bit more.”

“They are humans, Dan”, Iceland muttered, “I am not like… Oh, whatever. I need you to come with.” Now the Dane’s smile appeared again and he looked both, surprised and happy.

“Really?” he asked with excited tone, “I thought your stupid secret service would never let me in there again.”

“Why would they even try to ban you?” Iceland asked and frowned slightly before deciding that it wasn’t so important, “I need you to come and lie to them so they will not find out about us. Just take care they don’t suspect anything. You do that better than me and I have some work to do there.”

“Sure”, Denmark said with a shrug, “I will just pack my stuff. When are we leaving?”

“On Friday morning.” Denmark gave him a long look and frowned.

“It is already Wednesday”, he said, “are your people actually enjoying making you run around suddenly all the time or what?”

“They do enjoy making me do all kind of unpleasant things”, Iceland replied dryly, “do you need help with lunch?” Denmark grinned when he spotted the Icelander’s more and less subtle way to change the topic, but he could see the nation’s sour mood so he let it happen.

“Yeah sure”, he said and looked around, “wanna make the sauce for spaghetti?”

“Okay”, Iceland nodded and dropped his pack at the door before moving into the kitchen. First nobody said anything, but Denmark had never been one to shut up for long. Soon he started to tell about the call he had have with Norway earlier in morning, and his excited and almost bubbling voice somehow calmed the Icelander. 


	20. Higher Icelandic

“Okay, Dan”, Iceland sighed when they were once again in a plane, this time in one to Reykjavík, “do you remember what I told you?”

“Yeah”, the Dane replied, “you have some stuff to do, you don’t know what but there is something, while you do that I will keep your human friends busy.”

“Right”, Iceland replied, “they will come tomorrow afternoon and leave already on Sunday morning so we got some time alone too.”

“Nice, it has been while when I was visiting you last time”, Denmark said with a grin, “and I might also have some things to do.”

“What you mean?” Iceland asked.

“Nothing much”, Denmark replied, “we just might have pissed off your secret service. Not sure if they are up for a revenge.” Iceland gave the man a long look and sighed.

“Dan.”

“They started it!”

“But you are over one thousand years, isn’t that too old to piss off people?”

“Dunno”, Denmark said with a shrug, “we had damn good reason to piss them off.” Iceland sighed again, but didn’t ask what could have so good reason that the nation had decided to be difficult for several persons. Instead he closed his eyes and hoped he would manage to catch some sleep before they arrived to his home. Denmark settled for reading the magazines the air company was offering. Just before the Icelander fell asleep, he thought how nice it was to go home again. 

“I thought you said this place might be in ruins”, Denmark commented when they got in Iceland’s house and were met with normal view instead of the messy chaos Iceland had been expecting. Everything looked almost exactly how Iceland had left it, only difference being the pile of post on the floor and slightly moved furniture when the somebody had been cleaning there. 

“I had strong assumptions”, Iceland muttered and then raised his voice, “Puffin!”

“Hey, Icey-boy!” the bird yelled and flew from kitchen, landing directly on the Dane’s head. Puffing didn’t seem to care that his landing spot was a living being and he didn’t move even when Denmark tried to push him away.

“What was the problem you were speaking about?” Iceland asked, “everything seems to be in order here.” Not only his house was still standing, he had looked around while making his way home and he had soon noted the lack of angry mobs and problems. The Puffin was made it sound like there was over all chaos in his land. 

“You gotta talk with your boss-man tomorrow”, the bird replied.

“Of course, you will not tell me anything”, Iceland said, “get off Dan’s head.” 

“The best seat around here”, the bird complained, but flew off to table. Denmark gave the Icelander grateful smile and started to fix his hair that the puffin had messed up. 

“Puffin”, Iceland said, “some of my class mates are coming to visit. I am aiming to keep them far from nation business, but in case you meet them; do not talk.”

“That is restrain of freedom!”

“You a talking bird”, Iceland said, “you are not supposed to exist!”

“Funny, I was gonna say almost same about you”, Puffin replied, “but don’t worry, Icey-boy, I am not stupid and I am not gonna be around anyway.”

“Well, that is good to hear”, Iceland said with slightly sarcastic tone and the bird gave him so suspecting look than bird just could.

“You know, Icey”, he said, “you are starting to sound more and more like your brother. Turn back from the way of darkness before it is too late!”

“Puffin”, Iceland said with slightly tired voice, but the bird just did its’ weird laugh.

“Well, I am off”, he said, “gotta things to do. See ya later, Icey-boy!” The bird took off and flew into the kitchen, leaving the nations alone.

“Every time I meet that bird”, Denmark said with a slightly wondering tone, “I understand more why Nor thinks he is bad influence.”

“He thinks that?”

“Yeah”, Denmark said with a nod, “but how he gets out? he flew to the kitchen.”

“He has a cat door there”, Iceland replied with a small smirk, “opening windows and doors is a bit difficult for him, but he can handle cat door easily though he finds it slightly humiliating.”

“That is smart”, Denmark noted and picked up his bag he had put down when he tried to get the bird off his head, “well, do I get the same room than usually?”

“It is my only guest room, so yes”, Iceland replied, “the sheets are…”

“In laundry room”, Denmark said, “I know. I will fix it.”

“Good”, Iceland said. He was still curious about the problem his boss would hopefully tell him about next day, but he was also tired after the flight. He settled with making some quick snacks and sitting down in the living room, watching TV to pass some time. Denmark joined him after he had fixed the room for night and spent some time with just talking with the Icelander. 

Next morning Iceland was up early and ready to leave for work. Denmark was still in his night suit and eating cereals when Iceland was hurryingly fixing his suit and collecting his things. The Dane followed him with his eyes and yawned.

“Why you are getting so officially dressed?” he asked and gave a look at the younger nation’s outfit, “isn’t it just a meeting with your boss.”

“Yes”, Iceland said with slightly frustrated tone, “but I haven’t seen him for months and I don’t know what this problem is about.”

“So fancy clothes are your way to keep away the cruel world?” the Dane asked and Iceland stopped for a while to give him a look. He didn’t know where the Dane had even got that idea.

“Kinda”, he still said and continued with searching for his watch. 

“You know”, Denmark said, “you could just call Nor to come here. He is much better protection against the cruel world.”

“I can do things without having my brother hoovering over me all the time, thank you very much”, Iceland said.

“Sure you can”, Denmark said, “but remember still call me if you start fight. I wanna see that.”

“Okay”, Iceland muttered, “I will go now. Remember what I told you.”

“Yeah, yeah”, the Dane said, “I will meet up your human friends and be totally human with them while you deal with the business.”

“Good”, Iceland said and sighed when he went to get his shoes on. He was almost at the door when he stopped and turned to look at the man who was still slowly stuffing cereals into his mouth, “thank you, Dan.”

“Anytime”, the Dane said with a smirk. 

It turned out that Iceland’s boss was having another meeting, so the nation had to wait for a while. It didn’t upset him much, because his assistants were more than happy to see him again and decided to have a coffee break with him. It was natural for humans to have positive feelings toward the personification of their homeland, and Iceland had never done anything to decrease those feelings so he was rather popular among his co-workers. They excitedly told him about their pets, kids, partners or anything they have been doing, and offered coffee and cakes to young nation. Iceland was also aware that he looked young, way too young to be working there, so many of his assistant seemed to think him as their kid. It bothered him sometimes, but so far than he was still taken seriously and his family didn’t find out, he was fine with it. 

After the coffee break, Iceland was finally granted an audience with his boss. He felt slightly nervous, but not too scared now that he was quite sure that there weren’t any too big problems going on. His assistants haven’t even mentioned anything. 

“Good morning, Ísland”, the boss said when Iceland stepped into room and sat down after greeting the human, “nice to see that you did find time to come over for visit.”

“The message I got let me believe there wasn’t any other choice than come”, Iceland replied with shrug, “but it is nice to be home again.”

“Well, I wanted to speak about your studies”, the human said and picked up some papers, “I got a report and I have to say that I am happy with your results. I expected that smart person like you would get even higher grades, but you have done well and it is indeed better to keep some low profile in your case.”

“Thank you”, Iceland said with slightly unsure tone.

“The practice seems to have been a great thing too”, the human continued, “I could already see some new ideas on the way how you have been handling your tasks lately. 

“Wait a moment”, Iceland said, “were I called here only because of this?” The human looked up from the papers and gave the nation slightly confused look.

“Yes”, he replied.

“The messenger made it sound like everything was under chaos over here”, Iceland muttered. He knew he should not believe the puffin. That bird always made up things. 

“Well”, his boss said, “I can assure you that there is no chaos. Sure we have been forced to work with less advice and help from you, but the necessary work that you are still doing, is enough for now. I can show you the latest documents if you wish to take a look.”

“No need”, Iceland said, “I trust you.” 

“Very well”, the human said with a small smile, “I see that you are now almost graduated and only thesis is left. Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you haven’t yet decided a topic though there is not much time before you have to write a thesis contract?”

“That is correct too”, Iceland muttered, “it is hard to find a topic and supervisor.”

“And that is something I believe we can help with”, his boss said.

“How?”

“We sent you to university to complete your educational background as a personification”, his boss said, “therefore, it would make most sense that your Thesis is tied to your… Profession. In fact, we have several suitable projects you could pick up.”

“That is too risky”, Iceland said, “I might accidentally reveal myself.” 

“We thought about this risk too”, the human said, “it is possible to have somebody who already knows, to check and grade your work. They will be officers from Danish government and kept the secret already for years.”

“I will also need supervisor”, Iceland said, “and that should be somebody who is already working in the University.”

“We know”, the human continued, “and the best option would be your brother. So far that I understood, he already has rather impressive educational background and it would be easy to get him a position granted for a while.”

“You mean Danmörk?” Iceland asked and the human nodded. 

“He is also a personification and has lot of academic experience”, he said, “excellent pick for supervisor.” Iceland thought about it for a moment. He saw the reasoning behind the idea and had to admit that it wasn’t bad one. He had to do thesis anyway, and in other way he would have to be very careful about what he wrote about. 

“Well”, he said slowly, “Dan will be very happy.”

Saying that the Dane would be very happy, was underestimation. He was bursting from happiness when Iceland told him about the idea. It was clear right away that he would have no problems with being supervisor. He was even talking about it all evening and was focusing on it so much, Iceland started to be afraid they would never get dinner. 

“I can’t wait!” he declared and almost jumped around with a wide smile on his face, “and just wait until others hear about this! They will be so jealous!”

“Are the others getting jealous the best part or what?” Iceland asked a bit dryly, but Denmark shook his head.

“It is just a big plus”, he said with a grin, “I have always wanted to work in university.”

“Dan, don’t get too excited now”, Iceland said, “this is not sure yet and aren’t you still banned from there?”

“Yeah, but all people work online from home nowadays”, Denmark noted, “I could be working for university and still never be there.”

“I guess that would work”, Iceland said, “it would be just for supervising me anyway. That is all you need to do.”

“Yeah”, Denmark said and seemed to think about something while he set the table for their dinner, “I wonder if they will give me one of those funny dresses.”

“Dresses?”

“Yeah, those that the important people wear in ceremonies”, the Dane said, “that would be cool.”

“I really doubt they will”, Iceland muttered, “and don’t you already have punch of titles? Some of them has to give you rights to wear strange stuff.”

“That is true”, Denmark said with a nod, “thanks, Is, you always know the best things to say! I will check right away what kind of stuff I can use.”

“Maybe dinner first?” Iceland asked hopefully and glanced at the waiting food, “it is getting cold.”

“Oh right, of course”, the Dane said and turned back, “I forgot.”

“Only you can forget dinner because of being excited about extra job”, Iceland muttered, “who usually takes care that you eat something at all?”

“Norge!”

“Makes sense”, Iceland said and changed the topic when they were finally sitting down for the dinner, “did you manage with my classmates?” Denmark didn’t reply right away because he was busy with filling up his plate, but he found time to speak before starting to eat.

“Yeah”, he said, “they are funny.”

“All humans are funny”, Iceland commented. The food hadn’t become too cold so he had to blow gently before stuffing the forkful in his mouth, “did you say anything I should know about?”

“Not really”, the Dane replied, “they seem to think there is something strange going on with our family because they were almost like avoiding asking questions about us. They came up with lot of questions about everything else. Especially that Dutch one just couldn’t shut up.” Iceland frowned and looked up from his food.

“Are they figuring out what we are?” he asked, “I thought I was being careful.”

“No I think it is just kind of ‘I don’t dare to ask because there might be problems’ type of behaviour”, the Dane said with a shrug, “they don’t really have a reason to think we are anything but humans. People rarely suspect other people, and you know it is even hard to  _ make _ them believe in us.”

“That is true”, Iceland muttered, “I am just worried.”

“It is okay”, Denmark promised with a smile, “you could tell them the truth straight away and they would still think you are just joking. I have tried that.”

“If you say so”, Iceland muttered and started to eat again. The clock was getting near six and he knew it was soon time for Denmark and Norway’s evening call. That meant the Dane would be busy for at least few hours and probably leave cleaning the kitchen for Iceland. 

“Are you going to be with them tomorrow”, Denmark suddenly asked, “it is their only full day here.”

“I promised to be at work”, the Icelander replied, “they have got some big projects going on and I should take a look.” Normally, a reply like that wouldn’t have caused anything else than nod and acceptation, but now Iceland could feel the stare he was getting over the table. He looked up and saw the Dane watching him with almost judging and disappointed look.

“What?”

“You should not leave them like that”, the man said, “they are your friends.”

“Classmates”, Iceland corrected, “we can not be friends. I am a personification and they are humans.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have some friends”, Denmark said, “Is, you need some company too and humans are not bad. It is good to get know them.”

“I don’t want to”, Iceland muttered and stubbornly looked away. He knew Denmark wasn’t happy with that answer.

“Why not?”

“Because they are not like us”, the Icelander said, “I can’t be me when I am with them. You might be fine with lying all the time, but I am not.” He started to feel his anger rising and Denmark probably saw it too, because he slowly nodded and sighed.

“It is fine, Is”, he said, “you could learn a lot from them, but I understand.”

“Great”, Iceland muttered shortly. He was still refusing to look up, but he heard the Dane placing his fork and knife back on the plate.

“It is time to call Nor”, he noted and stood up, already looking for the right number from his phone. Iceland only grunted something, not bothering to give a real reply. He was still feeling angry and focused on biting the carrots with more strength than was necessary. Denmark left the room for the call, but he still heard few words.

“…Yeah, he is doing fine. I just pissed him off”, the Dane told Norway and Iceland grimaced.

“Damn Dane”, he muttered.

Next morning Iceland woke up in empty house, because Denmark had already left. He hadn’t say anything about what he was going to do, but Iceland guessed he was going around with the humans. The night had calmed him down, so he quietly prepared himself for the workday, thinking that he would see the Dane again in the evening and them apologize his behaviour on previous evening. 

His assistants were happy to have him back again and they set on to work with the nation like they usually did. Iceland did ask them how they did when he wasn’t there, but they only told him that they worked with different tasks while Iceland himself was away, but it was similar to what they have got used to do. After all, somebody had to take care of all the paper work, sent it to Iceland and collect and organize things. That easily kept the whole team busy even when Iceland wasn’t working so much. 

It was just a little after lunch when one of his assistants knocked on the open door and smiled when the nation looked up.

“You got visitors, Ísland”, she said.

“Visitors?” Iceland asked and frowned, because there haven’t been any visitors scheduled and he didn’t expect something like that, “Danmörk?”

“No, these are humans”, she told the nation, “they gave names Julia, Tomas and Carl, and they were referring to you as Erik.”

“Oh right”, Iceland muttered, “they are my classmates, but why are they here? Dan wasn’t with them?”

“No, they came alone”, the woman replied, “should I let them know that you are not available?” Iceland really wanted to say yes to that question, but Denmark’s words from the previous evening were still fresh in his mind. He didn’t want to be too close for humans, but he didn’t fancy to be rude either. Playing along just for bit shouldn’t hurt, he thought and remembered that Denmark at least had survived from befriending humans many times.

“No, it is okay”, he said, “I am almost ready here. Could you tell them to wait a bit? They think I am working here just a part time job.”

“Sure”, the woman said with a smile and walked away. Iceland sighed quietly and was happy that he had ended up with jeans and normal sweater that morning. It would have been awkward to explain how a part-timer got high enough position to be expected to wear suit at work. Especially when the part-timer looked like seventeen years old. Quickly he organized his papers, marked some of them unfinished, and grabbed his jacket on way out. 

He easily found his classmates, because the lobby was almost empty and they were the only ones speaking English together. When Iceland showed up, they were just talking about the museum they had seen earlier.

“Hey”, Iceland said when he got close enough, “how did you end up here?”

“Erik! Hey!” Tomas said and smiled, “your brother told us we could find you here and we thought it would be cool to meet up.”

“Yeah, sure”, Iceland shrugged, “and where is my brother?”

“He told us he got some important business to attend to”, Julia said with much calmer behaviour than her friend. Iceland frowned slightly.

“Here?” he asked out loud, but quickly decided that it wasn’t time to question the Dane’s actions, “so… What are you doing?”

“Mostly looking around”, Carl said.

“Everything is so cool”, Tomas continued, “your brother told us we should come and see if you can take us on a tour, because you know Iceland better than anybody.” Iceland flinched slightly when he heard his name, though he himself rarely used the English name, and barely managed to hide the reaction with a shrug. 

“I guess I know lot about this land”, he admitted.

“Great! So, you gonna give us a tour now?” Tomas asked

“If you are not busy with your work right now”, Julia added and gave a sharp look to her friends, “we promised we will not bother him.”

“No, it is fine”, Iceland said, “I actually just finished for today. 

“Perfect!” Tomas said, “so, where you gonna take us?”

“Depends”, Iceland said with a shrug, “what did my brother already showed you?”

“He took us around the city yesterday”, Julia explained, “and today we were in museum.”

“Museum?” Iceland asked and was slightly surprised, because museums were one of those places the nations rarely went, “really?”

“Yeah”, Carl said with a nod, “why are you so surprised?”

“Um”, Iceland muttered, “he is not really museum type, you know. He loves amusement parks more.”

“He was still very good in the museum and told us lot of things”, Julia said, “I had no idea he had been studying history!”

“Yeah”, Iceland muttered, “studying. He did that for years. Almost like lived it all.”

“And the way how he spoke about Iceland”, Tomas added, “damn, it sounded like he really loves and cares about this land! I have never heard anybody being so enthusiast about country.” Iceland tried hard to not blush.

“You should hear when he speaks about Norway”, he muttered, “okay, I think where I will take you.” He turned and the humans were quick to follow him.

“So where?” Tomas asked, but Iceland only shook his head.

“You will find out”, he said.

“That sounds promising”, Tomas said and smirked, “either it is something really good or you gonna push us all into volcano.”

“I don’t go around pushing people into volcano”, Iceland replied.

“Well, that is good to hear!” Iceland sighed and shook his head again while humans laughed. They seemed to be over-all in good mood and had managed to forget about studies for a while.

“Just follow me”, the nation said. 

Later Iceland wasn’t sure if he had fun or not with his human classmates. They ended up taking a tour to Iceland’s favourite places and to some tourist attractions. The nation realized that it was nice to show them places and tell some carefully selected and altered stories, but he also felt the weight of being forced to lie. Few times he caught himself speaking about things that he should not be so familiar with if he really had lived only few centuries or so. Still, he also found himself bragging about most insignificant things and using time to find the best places to show, even laughing with them when there was something funny. It was already late evening when he said them goodbye, wishing nice flight back to Copenhagen after they had a dinner in the affordable priced restaurant Iceland often went for lunch with his team of assistants. He was utterly confused when he made his way back to home, wondering if he should allow himself to enjoy the company of human or stay away like he had decided long time ago. 

“Finally you are home!” Denmark greeted him and walked to hall to meet the Icelander, “your bird is jerk, you know.” The Dane looked annoyed, which surprised Iceland because he had always thought that the Dane didn’t even know how to be annoyed. The puffing flied to hall too and sat on the lamp.

“Icey-boy!” he yelled, “that man you dragged here is total idiot!” Iceland looked at both of them and shrugged with completely serious look on his face.

“I see you have been keeping company to each other”, he noted, “anything else you came up with?”

“No, that was all to report”, the bird said, “I am gonna go to sleep now. Keep that stupid Dane far from me, would ya?”

“I am sure he will prefer to sleep in his own room”, Iceland replied, but the bird was already gone so the Icelander turned to give a questioning look to the Dane.

“What you have been up to all day?” he asked and Denmark grinned.

“I got some things to do”, he replied.

“Like pissing of puffins?”

“That too”, the Dane said, “did you liked the time with your human classmates.”

“It was okay”, Iceland shrugged, “what kind of business?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“If it is about me, then yes.” Denmark didn’t reply right away. He only kept looking at Icelander like he wasn’t sure what to say, but then a grin slowly appeared on his lips. 

“You know”, he said with laugh in his voice, “this questioning situation would be much better if Nor was here. He knows how to get information out of others.”

“Is that your way to tell me that you are not going to tell me anything?” Iceland asked.

“Exactly”, Denmark said, “so, good night!” Iceland raised his brow, but the Dane was already leaving and not even caring what the Icelander wanted. After brief thinking, Iceland shrugged and decided to go to bed too. 

Iceland hadn’t taken any tasks for the next day as it was his last in his own land for a while again. He and Denmark had picked up a late evening flight just to give the Icelander a bit more time to do what he wanted. Surprisingly, Denmark was still sleeping when Iceland got up and sneaked out from the house, looking for a calm and quiet place for just being and thinking. He had to walk a long way to get out of the city, but he didn’t mind about that. The fresh autumn weather only made him feel good and he took his time to just enjoy his own land and the feeling of being home. When he reached an isolated and calm place near the shore, which also happened to be one of his favourite places to come to think, he sat down on the stone and just looked out to the ocean. The air smelt salty, but the sky was clear and coloured by the rising sun. He used hours just to sit and think all he had been doing during the past year. The university, human classmates, his family and their lessons to him, it was overall lot to think about. He had missed his own home during his time in Copenhagen, even when his family was there too. The bond between personification and land was just too strong and naturally he loved his own place the most. He knew others felt like that too and it was the main reason why they all still had their own homes, though some of them visited others quite often. 

Iceland didn’t really try to find any answers with his thinking. He only wanted to have a moment alone and that was what he got. His thoughts were bot interrupted until hours had passed and he got a message from Denmark.

_ Hey, Is! It is time to come back. _

Iceland nodded, knowing that the Dane was right. It would take some time to hike back and then he would have to take shower and change clothes before he was ready to go to the plane.

_ I am coming.  _

He put the phone back into his jacket’s front pocket and got up from the stone, stretching the legs that had become stiff during his thinking moment. He felt hungry, but the calmness had helped him to collect his thoughts and he was sure he was ready to return to Denmark’s land. 

“Things I do for my people”, the Icelandic personification muttered out loud while making his way back to home. He arrived just in time to get himself ready before they had to leave for the airport. Denmark was naturally excited, after all he was returning to his own land. Iceland was less enthusiast, but didn’t even try to stop the Dane talking and hurrying into the plane. He only followed and took his seat next to man, feeling slightly tired after long morning hike. The plane had barely got up to the sky, when the Icelander gave up, snuggled against the Dane who was the most comfortable thing to lean on at that moment, and closed his eyes. It took only few minutes for him to fell asleep and few more for the Dane to notice that. When he did realize that the Icelander wasn’t listening to him anymore, he chuckled and fell quiet, only gently watching the sleeping nation, taking care that he didn’t wake him up and waiting for the time pass until he was home again. 


	21. Higher graduation

“It was the best trip ever”, Tomas declared when they all sat down in the campus’ lobby on Monday afternoon, “you and your brother really gave it a special feeling, Erik. It is just so much better to have some locals to show places and tell things.”

“I fully agree with Tomas”, Julia said and Carl nodded too. Still, despite of the compliments, Iceland grimaced slightly when he looked at them.

“I am happy you had fun”, he muttered and sighed, “but did you really had to get t-shirts?” He wouldn’t have minded if they had got some normal clothes, like some of the woollen sweaters the Icelandic nation also often used, but they had got the most horrifying souvenir t-shirts the Icelander had ever seen. Julia’s was not too bad, it only had “Iceland” written on it and a little flag on right sleeve, but Carl and Tomas looked like they had tried to find the most embarrassing things they just could. Carl’s new t-shirt said, “I love Iceland” and Tomas had managed to find one with picture of volcano and text “Don’t fuck with Iceland – We might not have cash but we got ash”. The personification of Iceland was horrified. 

“I know it is silly”, Tomas said with a grin, “but when you are tourist, you gotta get some silly t-shirts and stuff.”

“I have been tourist many times without getting anything like that”, Iceland noted.

“Your brother said it is a good idea.”

“Of course, he said that”, Iceland replied, “his ideas sucks.” Tomas laughed for his comment.

“He had one too”, he noted, “though it was about Norway… Do you guys remember what it said? Something about love it was.”

“I fell for Norway”, Carl said, “that it was.”

“Right, now I remember!” Tomas said while Iceland rolled his eyes, “he said it is his favourite.”

“Sure it is”, Iceland muttered.

“Did your Norwegian brother gave it to him?” Julia asked, but Iceland shook his head quickly.

“No”, he replied, “Matias is capable to be embarrassing just by himself.” At least he believed that Norway had nothing to do with the numerous more and less awkward shirts the Dane liked to use, but then again, the Norwegian nation had rather strange way to show his claim and affection toward the Danish man. Iceland wouldn’t be too surprised if he actually enjoyed seeing the Dane wearing his colours and name. 

“I think he is cool”, Tomas said, “you are so lucky to have that kind of brother.” Iceland nodded slowly and bit his lip before replying.

“I guess I am”, he muttered, “he had been helping me a lot.”

“Hey, how was your thesis contract, by the way?” Julia asked and changed the topic, “you found the topic and supervisor?”

“Yeah, it is fine”, Iceland said with a small nod, “things are not official yet, but I got some promising stuff. The study board is just checking that it will be okay.” It was only partly a lie, because Iceland hadn’t yet decided which project he would pick up, but the system was already going on. While he was speaking with his classmates, there were some carefully selected people pulling the strings to get the Danish personification quickly officially hired by the university, right people to be selected checking Iceland’s Thesis process and most importantly, to take care that the secret stayed as secret. It was magnificent system that worked to keep the personifications hided from the public and make their normal life possible and easy. Sometimes Iceland liked to listen people talking about governmental conspiracies and laugh because they had no idea what was going on. 

“That is good”, Julia said with a soft smile.

“Yeah”, Iceland said and glanced at the clock on the wall, “well, I will have to go now. Matias said he needs some help with his project.”

“Okay”, Tomas nodded, “which kind of project.”

“I have no idea”, Iceland muttered. He did have an idea, but it was strict nation business. The personification of the Danish nation needed help from the personification of the Icelandic nation because he was preparing a presentation on his nation’s economic situation and it also had a section about Nordic case, which meant he was co-operating with all of them. It was a true family work.

“Have fun anyway”, Tomas said, “are you gonna be here tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I will have meeting with some people who will decide if my thesis idea is acceptable”, Iceland replied. He didn’t know yet who he would met, but it was supposed to be somebody who was already aware of the situation and the secret of the personifications. Iceland felt weird excitement to speak with somebody who already knew and didn’t need to hear lies. 

“Good luck with that!” the humans wished and Iceland thanked them before leaving. He sighed when he stepped out of the university building, but for once it wasn’t because of his lies and problems with being friends with humans. It was only simply because he really hated economic presentations and knew that Denmark would never let him skip it. 

Next day he was in quite good mood. He had survived from helping Denmark previous evening, and his morning meeting with the mysterious helping person had been good for him. It turned out he was meeting with a middle-aged man who had once been Denmark’s assistant but later decided to go for educational career. Because he already knew the secret, had degree for education and was trusted, the Danish officers had asked him to take the position in university in order to have in somebody who would be able to help Icelandic personification even in nation related business, if that was needed. Iceland was surprised to hear that because he had never thought people were going that far for him to only get some education, but he had to admit it made sense. The man was even nice. He told the nation to call him Jens and explained everything with a calm way that he probably used with all his students, and he even said that if Iceland needed more help he only needed to call or come to the office. 

At the end of the meeting Iceland knew that he could do the Thesis just like his boss had suggested, and that Denmark had already got a sudden surprise promotion and was now a professor in University of Copenhagen. He was posing as a young, highly educated and apparently genius young Danish man called Matias Andersen. He had even got a recommendation letter form the Queen of Denmark, saying that Matias had been involved in the education of younger members of Royal family and they were sad to see him go. The dean had been rather impressed and only some string pulling had been needed for the personification of Denmark to get a new job.  

So, Iceland was in rather good mood and making his way to the cafeteria when somebody grabbed his arm and pulled him behind the corner. This was far from the first time that happened to Iceland and he had been taught what to do in situations like this. He didn’t try to pull back from the hold, but turned around quickly and aimed his knee between the attacker’s legs . Denmark was lucky enough to dodge.

“Wououou”, the Dane said and moved away quickly, “don’t kick my man parts. I need them.”

“Dan?” Iceland asked and frowned, “what are you doing here?”

“Apparently being in danger to get kicked in my man parts”, Denmark replied and gave the Icelander slightly bad look. Iceland sighed.

“It is your fault”, he said, “you assaulted me. I only did what  _ you _ had taught me to do.”

“I know and I am very proud that you still remember that lesson”, Denmark said, “but I am sure me and Nor will both be very sad if I lose my man parts.”

“Can you stop speaking about your… man parts?” Iceland asked dryly, “I don’t want to talk about  _ that  _ and this is a public place anyway. Also, I wasn’t going to kick that hard.” Because the lunch time had gathered all the students either to the tables outside or the lunch place, there wasn’t anybody near them in the hallway and they didn’t need to be careful with their words so long when they kept their voices low. 

“Yeah okay”, Denmark muttered and grinned, “how is your school day?”

“Normal”, Iceland replied, “again, what are you doing here? I thought you are banned from the university.”

“Oh yes, I am”, Denmark replied and sounded incredibly smug, “but I found a plot hole!”

“You mean a loop hole?” Iceland asked and the Dane nodded. He was grinning and Iceland already knew that wasn’t promising anything good. Still, he also knew he had to know what the Dane had figured out.

“Yeah”, Denmark said, “I figured it out already while ago, but decided to save the moment for something important.”

“Important?”

“Like, to come to tell you I am now a professor”, the Dane said happily and hint of proudness in his voice, “you may now call me professor Andersen.”

“Nobody in here use the title like that”, Iceland noted, “they go by their first names.”

“Why?” Denmark asked and shook his head, “they are missing their chance.”

“Do I really have to explain the habits of your own people to you?” Iceland asked just a bit sarcastically, “are you gonna tell about the loop hole?”

“Oh, right, that!” Denmark said and grinned, “you see, when they banned me they wrote exactly like this; not allowed to step into any buildings now owned by the University of Copenhagen.”

“So?”

“It was decades ago”, Denmark said with wide smile “and this campus wasn’t even built yet so therefore the ban is not valid here. It only keeps me out from the older buildings. Isn’t that wonderful?” 

“Well”, Iceland said after brief thinking, “you might be right.”

“I know I am right”, Denmark replied, “I am just waiting for them to try to get me out so I can rub it against their face.”

“Sometimes, you and your people confuse me”, Iceland muttered, “so you are going to supervise me?” Denmark nodded and looked still excited about it. Only reason for him to not start to talk about it more, was that Iceland’s human classmates were walking closer. They had spotted the nations standing at the corner and decided to come to say hi.

“Hey!” Tomas was the first to speak up, “Matias, you are here too!”

“Hell yeah I am”, Denmark laughed and nodded toward the Icelander, “somebody have to check on our little brother now and then.”

“I am already an adult”, Iceland replied almost automatically. 

“Sure”, the Dane said and smiled when he noticed the t-shirts the humans were wearing, “those are the most awesome clothes I have ever seen!”

“Thanks”, Tomas said with laugh, “Erik seems to be embarrassed about these.”

“Don’t mind about him”, Denmark said quickly with a grin on his lips, “he gets easily embarrassed.”

“And you get easily embarrassing”, Iceland muttered, “do we really have to talk about shirts?”

“You have to admit these ones are cool”, Carl teased the Icelander who snorted.

“No way.”

“He probably wanted to get one too and is jealous now”, Denmark said and lazily wrapped his arm around the Icelander’s shoulder, “don’t worry, Eiríkur, I will get you one. A Danish one with ‘I love Danmark’ -text. Would you like that?”

“Matias”, Iceland said, pronouncing the name slowly and carefully, “you do that and I will move to Sigurd’s place.”

“Well, he would thank me for that”, Denmark replied, “probably steal your new shirt too. He loves Denmark so much it is even hard to believe. Totally crazy over this nation. Almost maniac.”

“Matias”, Iceland warned, though the humans seemed to think they were having just a normal brotherly mock play going on. They all were holding back laugh and Julia looked like she wasn’t sure if she should be sorry for Icelander or just laugh. 

“Yeah and actually I should get back to work”, Denmark said with a grin, “see you at dinner, brother?”

“Sure”, Iceland muttered, “you lucky I still want free food.”

“Don’t hurt my feelings like that”, the Dane replied but looked amused and reached to ruffle the Icelander’s hair, “well, see ya!” He skipped away, clearly satisfied with himself and thinking he was the funniest person in the world. Iceland thought about making a face after him, but quickly realized that it would be far too childish. 

“He is so cool”, Tomas said and Iceland gave him a long look.

“That is my brother we are speaking about”, he muttered, “he is a jerk, who is for some reason loved by everybody.” 

“It is a charm”, Carl said with a shrug while the Icelander snorted. 

“Whatever”, he muttered, “I am going to eat something and then go for work.”

“Damn, we already had lunch”, Carl said and gave the Icelander an apologizing smile, “we would join you otherwise.”

“That’s okay”, Iceland said, “I can always just call that Danish jerk back if I need company for the lunch.” The humans laughed and Iceland found himself smiling. It was very small smile, but still. When he left for the lunch, he felt confused but was determined to just forget about that. He had other things to do. 

That afternoon Iceland worked in his own embassy. Though he liked to work also at home and his work load had been decreased after he had got sick last year, he had got some special tasks now that he didn’t have any courses. Some of them were high priority and he had to do them in the embassy because of the national security. When he returned to home late in evening, he was met by an excited Dane.

“Finally you are here!” he declared and almost ran to the door. Iceland gave him a questioning look.

“Yeah”, he said, “What is this? I am not even late.” They always had their dinner at six o’clock in evening and it still was ten minutes till six. 

“I have surprise for you!” Denmark said and smiled so wide Iceland was afraid he would break his face. 

“It is better not to be that t-shirt”, Iceland said quickly, “I swear I will move to Nore’s place if you… Oh.” When Iceland stepped in the living room, he met his brother who was sitting on armchair and smiling softly. 

“Well, hello brother”, Norwegian man said with slightly amused tone, “may I heard the reason for you to threat Dan with such a wonderful action?”

“It is nothing you should know about”, Iceland replied, but couldn’t completely hide his happiness to see the Norwegian again, “what are you doing here? I thought you would not be back this week.”

“I managed to fix some things and be able to come back earlier”, the Norwegian said almost smugly, “and what comes to this thing you refuse to tell me about, luckily I have other sources too.”

“Like what?” Iceland asked and Norway smirked before he glanced at the Dane, who had sat down on the couch and was just being happy when his most loved ones were both present. 

“Danmark, my love”, Norway said and reached to caress the man’s hair, “would you tell me what you and Island were talking about?” 

“That is unfair, Nore”, Iceland said, knowing that the Dane would never refuse to speak up when Norway asked like that, “you are abusing your power.” Norway and Denmark both ignored the Icelander’s complains. 

“I told him I would get him a new t-shirt with ‘I love Danmark’ -text”, Denmark explained, “he said he will move in your house if I do that.”

“Interesting”, Norway said while Iceland grimaced, “could that be arranged?”

“Anything for you, elskede”, Denmark said and Norway leaned to kiss his cheek while Iceland was giving them both bad looks. 

“Puppy”, he said to the Dane, “you are a puppy.”

“Tsk, tsk, Island”, Norway said while Denmark’s whole attention was still on the Norwegian man and he ignored the Icelander, “I am simply feeling like you are neglecting me and when speaking about it doesn’t help, I will have to use other ways.”

“You are being foolish”, Iceland muttered, “I am not neglecting you.”

“Maybe I am just jealous that my little brother is spending so much time with somebody else”, Norway said and looked amused, “well, let’s not talk about that right now. What have you two being up to last weeks?”

“I got new job”, Denmark said with excited tone.

“Again?” Norway asked, “is there still something in the world you haven’t tried yet?”

“Few things”, Denmark replied with a shrug, “I am a professor now.”

“It was my boss’ idea”, Iceland noted, “he suggested that I do my Thesis about something nation related, but then I would need a supervisor who knows about us and is expert on nation business. The easiest option was to promote Dan and give him the task to supervise me.”

“Interesting”, Norway nodded, “actually, Dan is a perfect choice.”

“Really?” Iceland asked, “I mean, I thought you would have said we should have you as my supervisor.”

“Oh no”, Norway said and shook his head, “I am not good with supervising. I am more the kind of person who prefers to do things by himself, not explain others how those are done. Dan in other hand, is perfect for that. Also, he is fascinating smart, though he likes to hide it. Aren’t you?” The last words were meant for the Dane, who smirked and nodded quickly. 

“Okay”, Iceland muttered.

“We also visited Island’s home”, Denmark said, “his friends were there too.”

“They are not my friends”, Iceland muttered, but changed the topic quickly, “and what is going on between you two and my secret service? Dan refused to tell me.”

“It is nothing serious”, Norway said with a shrug, “we only had some misunderstanding and they were quite worried when you disappeared with Fin. I believe Dan has already fixed the situation if he was in your land.” Denmark nodded to show that he had indeed done that. Iceland was still suspecting that something was going on, but he decided to trust his family. Whatever it was, they would deal with it by themselves and let Iceland do his own things.

“Okay”, Iceland muttered.

“Anything else special?” Norway asked, but Iceland shook his head. 

“I missed you every day”, Denmark replied and Norway turned to look at him, his usually emotionless eyes soft and loving.

“I know”, he said, “you told me it every day.” Denmark whispered something that Iceland didn’t really heard as he was standing few meters away, but Norway seemed to be appreciating the words, because he leaned closer. That was the moment Iceland decided to leave.

“This is getting too sweet”, he said out loud and turned to walk to his room, “call me when the dinner is ready!” Neither of the Scandinavians replied, but Iceland wasn’t too surprised about that. He carefully closed the door behind him and dropped his bag on the floor, not really caring about it then. He still hadn’t pick up the project, but his boss had sent him a list of suitable ones with brief summary of each. Iceland had been thinking about going it through with Denmark, and maybe with the nice counsellor Jens, but now that his brother had all the attention of the Danish personification, Iceland decided to kill some time by reading the list. He tried his best to focus and think which one would be the best, but he found it hard to keep his thoughts together and his belly was demanding food. It was already twenty past six after all and even the Finn’s proof of them being able to survive without food has not change Iceland’s feeding habits.

“And he says I am neglecting him”, Iceland muttered when the call for dinner didn’t come. He wondered what would happen if he went to them to tell about missing dinner. In the past, Norway had always dropped everything else if Iceland asked something, and the Icelander was kind of curious to know if it would be like that still in modern days. However, before he managed to start the experiment, his phone buzzled. 

_ Erik, wanna come to Studenterhuset today? _

Iceland frowned for that message. When they had still been in their first courses in the University, Iceland had been asked to join them in the bar several times. However, the invitations had decreased and finally stopped when he every time declined, giving half-hearted excuses how he had to work, his family wanted to have family evening or he was feeling sick. Once he had even claimed that he was going to babysit neighbour’s kid. They didn’t even had kids but his classmates didn’t know about that. 

_ Sorry, my brother came back home and we gonna have a family dinner  _

Iceland knew they would both give him disapproving looks if they found out he was using them as excuse to skip an evening with his classmates, but they were probably too busy to even care at the moment so Iceland was saved. He was going to pick up the papers again, trusting that humans would give up with him, but the phone buzzled again.

_ Okay. _ _   
_ _ But you gotta come with us one time. We can go to a calm place if you want. _

Iceland snorted. They had been trying to persuade him before too, but so far he had always said no. He had really thought the humans would have given up already.

_ Sorry. I am not really into that. _

It took only few seconds for the reply to arrive.

_ Yeah, we kinda got that, but we would love to see you out with us at least once. How about after graduation? Just for a small party? You can leave whenever you want. We will be happy if you give us at least a chance to prove we can have fun together! _

Iceland bit his lip. He was tempted to say no and decline this offer too, but he also had to admit the three humans had been nice for him. It took something to be nice for somebody who was systematically trying to push them away. No matter how much he wanted to stay far from humans, he didn’t want to be remembered as an asshole. He still went out with his assistants sometimes, how could that be different from a little party with his classmates?

_ Okay. After graduation. I will give you ten mins. _

_ That is all we need ;)  _

Iceland shook his head and glanced at the clock, realizing that the dinner was already forty minutes late. Sure, he was an adult and he could just go and fix the dinner by himself, but he was feeling childish enough to just push the task for somebody else. 

“Nore!” he yelled, “I am hungry and Dan promised to make dinner today!” First there was only silence, but then he could hear fast talking in Norwegian, too muffled for him to hear but he assumed the Norwegian was scolding the Dane about forgetting the dinner.

“Ten mins, Is!” Denmark yelled after few minutes. Iceland nodded and started to read the papers again, trusting that he would be fed in ten minutes. 

After it was decided that Denmark would supervise Iceland with his thesis, things started to go on fast. Iceland held a meeting with two Danes, the nation itself and the counsellor Jens who was very understanding with everything. Denmark was thrilled to work with him again. Apparently, they had been hanging out a lot when he had been working as assistant for the personification and they still played football together sometimes. Iceland wasn’t even surprised to find out about that.

They found a project for Iceland and set all the dates so all Iceland needed to do, was to write his Thesis. He wasn’t really looking forward to that, though Denmark was helping him and his boss had granted him work free months while he finished his studies.  Still, he knew what he had to do and so he started to work.

Weeks and months went by with him focusing only for this one task. It tired him, but he was also happy to see the slow process. Denmark turned out to be perfect supervisor, just like Norway had said, and he was not only giving advice and pushing Icelander to finish his work, but also encouraging and taking care the young nation did not over work. 

Norway was there too, though he often had to travel to his own land to take care of his work. He didn’t try to deal with Iceland’s job, and only focused on comforting him when things were difficult and giving him space when that was needed. Iceland noticed soon that his brother’s silent support was exactly what he needed. Whenever a plate of snacks appeared next to him on the table, the apartment emptied just when Iceland needed some quiet time or he found post-it notes telling him to rest, he knew his brother was behind of that. All he could do was to feel happy about it.

His classmates were just as busy as he was, but they still kept contact and even reached out for the nation that was ready to live in isolation the whole nine months period he was supposed to use for the thesis. Iceland was first hesitant to hang out with them, but somehow, they managed to lure him out from the office he used for work, and he found himself in their weekly get to together meetings that were fast dubbed as Thesis survival meetings. Denmark joined in few times too, though he really hadn’t reason to do so and because of the secret, they were not telling humans how much Denmark was working with Iceland’s thesis. 

The nine months work was exhausting the Icelander and often making him to think about just dropping it all and tell his boss to hand the land over Norway if Icelandic personification wasn’t deemed to be good enough. His sour mood got understanding looks from his family, and only the fact that Iceland was too stubborn to give up kept him working, and finally he was ready.

“I don’t know”, Iceland muttered when he stood in the hallway with Denmark and Norway, “why we have to present this thing? Why to not just write it and that’s it?”

“Because this is how it is done”, Denmark said with small grin, “don’t worry. You will be doing fine.”

“I don’t want to be doing anything”, Iceland muttered, “I want to be left alone and without stupid tasks.”

“After this you can go to your own land”, Norway noted calmly, “and do everything you want to do, though I hope that you will find some time for the family gathering.”

“We are going to have family gathering?” Iceland asked, though he wasn’t really surprised. He hadn’t seen Finland and Sweden since the day they left from Helsinki after summer, and even calls had been rare. Norway and Denmark had brought some news from the meetings they had with other two Nordics, but otherwise Iceland hadn’t heard from them. Naturally, the family gathering would be held right after Iceland got his freedom from university. 

“Yes”, Norway replied and smiled softly, “it will be in my place.”

“Which one?” Iceland asked, remembering that the Norwegian also owned several places, though it was very clear which one he though as home.

“Near the coast this time”, the man said, “in Bergen.”

“Oh”, Iceland nodded, “that is a nice place.”

“Yes it is”, Norway replied, “I wish to go for a sail.”

“I would be okay with that”, Iceland muttered. Talking about on-coming family gathering was calming him down, but he still couldn’t stop moving his weight from one leg to another and tapping his fingers against the folder he was holding. Denmark seemed to find his nervousness amusing.

“Is, remember when you were a kid”, the Dane said, “and you got lost in the city under attack?”

“Yeah”, Iceland muttered. He still remembered that day thought it had been centuries ago. Back then he had been depending on his brother and Denmark, but the sudden attack had forced him away from them. It wasn’t good for a nation in ten years old body to be alone when enemy was attacking so he had been running and hiding, Norway and Denmark frantically searching for him. It had been one of the scariest days in Iceland’s life.

“Is this situation really scarier than that?” Denmark asked. Iceland blinked and stared at him, before slowly glancing at his brother.

“Is this really his way to comfort me?” he asked and Norway nodded promptly.

“He has plenty of good sides”, the man explained, “but unfortunately, choosing the right words to right moment is not one of them.”

“But I am right?” Denmark asked, “just think the contrast a bit.”

“I am thinking it”, Iceland muttered, “and it is not helping.”

“Then maybe try to stop thinking.” Iceland sighed deeply and shook his head.

“Nore gives better advice”, he told the Dane, who nodded.

“I know”, he said with a completely honest voice. The three nations fell silent, Denmark just looking around, Iceland being nervous and Norway gently keeping his hand on his brother’s shoulder and offering comfort. Iceland had an idea of what he was supposed to do in his presentation. He had seen his classmates doing theirs and mostly his would be same. The main difference was that though others had made their presentations in front of audience, Iceland would only have Denmark, Norway and the selected humans there listening to him. The official reason for the closed doors was that the Icelander’s Thesis included parts that were private. In fact, even Denmark and Norway had to sneak in because officially they had no reason or rights to be listening the presentation.

“Erik!” Iceland looked up when he heard the name his classmates had used for him for two years already. He saw all three coming closer, smiling because they had already done what they had to and were free from the educational responsibilities. 

“Hey”, Iceland muttered and two other nations nodded for greeting.

“Good luck with the presentation”, Julia said with a sweet smile. She was holding Carl’s hand and Iceland recalled them speaking few days ago that Carl was going to move to France with his girlfriend. 

“Thanks”, Iceland said. Tomas walked over him and hugged the Icelander, who didn’t know how to reply for that. Denmark sniggered when he saw Iceland’s expression, but Tomas seemed to not mind about awkwardness. 

“You will survive it”, he said with a wide smile. Iceland didn’t remember any moments from last two years when he had not seen him smiling. 

“I will try”, Iceland muttered.

“Just remember that we got a party after this”, Tomas said, “you promised.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Iceland replied, “I remember. You didn’t let me to forget about it.” After Iceland had agreed for the night out after graduation, the humans had took care he would not forget about his promise. 

“Eiríkur”, Norway’s melodic voice interrupted them, “it is time.”

“Oh, right”, Iceland said and took a deep breath. His support team wished him luck for the last time before he stepped inside to the room. He went alone, but he knew Norway and Denmark would join them soon. He used the moment to collect himself and when he saw the nations coming in and sitting down, he started.

“So?” Tomas asked when Iceland was out from the room hour or so later.

“I…”, Iceland said slowly and smirked slightly when he saw the humans holding their breaths, “I guess it was fine.”

“Oh, great”, Carl said and let a relieved sigh.

“We knew you would do it”, Julia said with a sweet smile, “so, you coming to party now?”

“Right now?” Iceland asked and the humans laughed.

“No, it is too early”, Tomas noted, “tomorrow? Would that be okay for everybody?”

“Yeah”, Carl replied and Julia nodded too, “how about 19 o’clock? It will be calmer then.”

“That would be perfect”, Tomas agreed and glanced at the Icelander, “so Erik? Are you finally coming with us?” There was humour in his voice and the Icelander nodded shortly.

“Promise is promise”, he said, “I will meet you there.” The humans seemed to be satisfied with that reply and let the Icelander to go home. He had already got congratulations from Norway and Denmark, with a promise of dinner in his favourite restaurant, and he had barely got home when he had already received messages from his boss, Finland, Sweden and surprisingly also from certain talkative Puffin. He was in good mood when he stepped into an empty apartment and closed the door behind him. He knew that Norway and Denmark were out, but they would be back soon so he had to enjoy the moment of peace now. 

With light steps the nation walked to the living room and settled down on the couch, looking up to the ceiling. For last two years he had worked to fulfil his boss’ wish, hiding the truth from his family and after it had been released, he had accustomed to live again with Denmark and later with Norway too. He had somehow managed to fit his studies with his work and survived a week with each members of his crazy family, still keeping all as secret so the humans near him had no idea about his true identity. For sure it was a lot even for an immortal nation. He felt exhausted but also happy. He had done it. With a smile on lips he stretched his body and decided to treat himself with a good nap.

The dinner with his brother and Denmark was great and Iceland appreciated the fact that they had made sure everything was just like Iceland liked to have. During the dinner, while they waited for their desserts. Finland and Sweden had called a videocall and expressed their disappointment over not being there with them. Iceland swore it wasn’t his fault that the two Nordics had been too busy, but he still promised that they would have a great dinner once they were all in Norway’s house in Bergen. That seemed to satisfy them. 

But before that, Iceland had another promise to keep and that was why he was sitting in a bar, waiting for others to arrive. He had come a bit early just to make sure his class mates would not be able to say he tried to avoid the evening. The humans were honestly surprised when they found the Icelander waiting for them.

“Erik! You made it here!” Tomas yelled after he spotted the nation, and quickly made his way over the corner where Iceland was sitting. Julia and Carl followed him, and Iceland used a moment to wonder how different they all looked when they were wearing their free time clothes instead of slightly more official ones they used at university. 

“I promised”, Iceland replied with shrug when the humans sat down around the small table.

“Yeah, ten mins at least”, Tomas said, “we gotta be quick! Carl, get us drinks and snacks. Juli, pick up a game. I will stay here and stop Erik if he tries to escape.” With laughs the two humans went to fulfil their tasks while third one just sat down and grinned at the Icelander.

“I wasn’t going to escape”, Iceland said.

“Can’t be sure”, Tomas replied with laugh in his voice, “better to make sure just in case.” Iceland snorted and Tomas sniggered. Soon Carl and Julia returned with beers, snacks and board games. Because this was Iceland’s first time out with them, he didn’t know what was going to happen, but the humans showed him. They started with playing Trivial Pursuit, that soon ended with Tomas declaring that Iceland had to be cheating. It wasn’t possible for human to know do much, and Iceland laughed at that claim. Of course, he wasn’t a human. 

Ten minutes went past fast, then twenty minutes, and half an hour. Iceland didn’t leave, though the place became crowded and Julia asked several times if he still was okay. There wasn’t really reason for Iceland to stay, but he realized that the time didn’t matter so much anymore and he just wanted to stay for next game or talk with them a bit longer, though he was just mostly listening to them while they talked about their things. Later he would ask himself why he stayed, but all he could say was that it felt right then.

It was almost already midnight and Iceland had drank enough to feel nice and warm, but not too much to it to affect him. He had won all the rounds of Trivial Pursuit and few plays of Kimble, but hadn’t join the truth and dare because it sounded a bit too risky game for him. His truths were a bit different after all. 

“This is so great that you decided to stay with us”, Tomas said when they had almost finished their third plate of fries and the table was getting full of empty classes. 

“I agree”, Julia said and smiled, “we were missing you.”

“It is not so big deal”, Iceland shrugged and pushed away his last drink. He had only drunk half of it, but he was starting to feel his limits and knew it was time to stop. Being drunk alone with humans was not what he fancied and he still had to be able to find his way back to home. 

“No, it is!” Tomas declared, “we four were only non-Danes in our class! For two years we kept together.”

“You make it sound like we were in a war”, Iceland muttered and Carl sniggered to his comment. 

“It was hard, but maybe not a war”. Julia said.

“Big thing for us”, Tomas said and stared at the table for a moment, before his lips turned to wide smile, “but we are true friends now, right? Together forever?” Julia and Carl were quick to reply, but the nation sitting next to them frowned when he remembered again. He looked around and saw all the people laughing and celebrating, though they knew their short life could end at any moment. For them forever was only a life time, for Iceland it was forever. He knew it was time for him to leave and never look back. 

“Sure”, he muttered and tried his best to smile when they looked at him. It seemed to work because they didn’t ask what had changed the Icelander’s mood so suddenly. 

“It is getting late”, Julia noted, “but would you like to meet for late lunch tomorrow?” Again, the humans were more eager to say yes than the nation. Iceland slowly shook his head when they turned to look at him.

“I am sorry”, he said and picked up a new lie once again, “I am actually moving tomorrow morning.”

“Really?” Tomas asked, “to where?”

“To my brother’s place, to Norway”, Iceland replied, “I know this is sudden. He got a project that I could work with too, but I heard about it just yesterday and I had to decide right away.” He could see the surprise and hints of disappointment in their eyes, but soon it was covered by excitement and happiness for the Icelander.

“That is great!” Tomas declared, “you got a job literally right after school! That is so cool, man.”

“It is just one project”, Iceland said and shrugged, “but thanks.”

“You gotta promise you keep in contact with us”, Carl said and others nodded. 

“Sure”, Iceland lied. 

When they all decided to go home, Iceland found himself aimlessly walking around Copenhagen, following now quiet roads without any real destination. Normally he would have walked home in ten minutes, but this time he managed to spend almost half hour being voluntary lost before he heard familiar voice calling his name.

“Island”, Denmark said and the Icelander turned around, “what are you doing here?” The Dane was walking, holding his bike up with his left hand, but he had a helmet on his head so it seemed like he had been biking before he spotted Iceland. He looked curious, but didn’t seem to be worried about seeing Iceland out that late because he wasn’t frowning.

“Just having an evening walk”, Iceland replied, “you?”

“I was playing football with some guys”, Denmark replied.

“This late?”

“We went for the beers after”, the man said and stopped for a while to observe the Icelander, “something is wrong. What is it?” Iceland sighed, but wasn’t surprised. He had never been good with hiding things from his family.

“I am just thinking”, he said with calm, but a bit too serious voice, “how you can do it?”

“Do what?”

“Lie”, Iceland said, “you are always so friendly with humans and even spending time with them. How you manage with all these lies?” Denmark thought about the questions for a moment, but then he smiled softly.

“The more I do that, the easier it becomes”, he said honestly, “and it is not so big deal. Nobody tells other everything, they all have some lies in their words. Mine are simply a bit larger.”

“I don’t think I can do that”, Iceland admitted and Denmark nodded.

“You don’t need to”, he said, “I know I have been trying to get you to go with humans, but it is not so important. You can always be just with us, other personifications, if it is better for you. You know, Nor also likes to keep distance from humans and I haven’t seen Sve either out with many, though that might be because they are freaking scared of him.” Iceland nodded, feeling slightly better after getting acceptance from the Dane. 

“It is just so frustrating”, he muttered, “just telling them lies and then I had to leave them anyway in couple of years because otherwise they will realize I don’t age.” Denmark nodded and carefully placed his bike against the wall. The street was still quiet and dark, it was one of those small and old ones that were too narrow for the cars. Usually it would have been a scary place to stand in middle of night, but Iceland was afraid of nothing when Denmark was with him. The Dane stepped closer and hugged him tightly.

“I know”, he said quietly and didn’t step away until they were both feeling better, “come, Nor is waiting us.” Iceland nodded and followed the Dane. Neither said anything, but there was a peaceful and comforting silence between them, which didn’t bother much. 

Norway was waiting for them and when the Dane and Icelander finally showed up, he was sitting in the bed and covered with blanket. Still, he wasn’t sleeping and he had a book open on his lap. The pages were moving by themselves while the nation kept his hands warm under the blanket and read the text with high attention. When he heard them coming back, the book closed itself and moved on the side table. 

“There you are”, the Norwegian said, “late time to return home, isn’t it?”

“Or maybe just early time to return to home”, Denmark replied and Norway chuckled before he glanced up to the Icelander.

“How was your evening?” he asked, but instead of replying the Icelander walked to him and climbed in the bed. If Norway was surprised about that sudden and unnormal acting, he didn’t show it. He only moved the blanket so Iceland could snuggle under it, and then let the younger nation to lean on him. Iceland would later blame the alcohol for such a comfort seeking behaviour, but at that moment he just needed it. Nobody said anything, and Denmark too laid in the bed so Iceland was between them. It was warm and safe place.

“Nore?” Iceland said after the silence became enough. Norway had been stroking his hair while Denmark simply watched them. 

“Hm?”

“Why is everything always so difficult?” Iceland asked and saw a small smile appearing on his brother’s lips.

“That is just life”, he said, “I assume that you are thinking about humans?”

“Yeah.”

“Fascinating creatures”, Norway said softly, “so fragile and short-living, but still changing the world every day.”

“It confuses me”, Iceland admitted, “can we go to Bergen already tomorrow? I think I am done here.”

“It confuses us all”, Norway said, “and sure. We can leave after the first light of morning if you wish so.”

“Thank you.”

“Island”, the Norwegian nation said after a brief silence, “do you like to be a personification? You have asked that from all of us, but not offered your own answer.” Iceland didn’t really need to think about the reply, because he knew already.

“Yes”, he said without hesitation, “that is what I am.” That was the last thing said for the night. Soon after the nations fell in peaceful sleep, Iceland staying in between Denmark and Norway. Both of the older nations kept one of their hand over the Icelander’s back, just like they had been doing centuries ago when they all had regularly slept in the same bed. It was just the alcohol that had made him act so, he later claimed and his family would only smile and nod. 

When the first light of the sun met Copenhagen next morning, three Nordics were ready to go. Iceland left the Danish capital without attending to the official graduation party and he did not look back. It would take years before he visited Copenhagen again. 


	22. Epilogue: Higher goodbye

_ 32 years after graduation _

Iceland muttered angrily to himself when he made his way through the hallways of the fine building the Danish personification called his work place. The reason for the Icelander’s anger was that Denmark had called for him, even demanded him to come all way from his own land and he had not given any real reason to do so. Everything Iceland had got out from him was just undetailed hints about something important the Icelander should see. 

Still, when Iceland finally arrived to Copenhagen, the Danish personification was nowhere to seen. He didn’t even bother to pick up the Icelander and only sent a message where he had hidden the key to his city apartment so Iceland could go and be there. The Dane didn’t show up for the night either and when the morning came, Iceland was angry enough to go and search for him in the place they probably knew where he was. That’s why he was roaming around in Christiansborg. 

Iceland had been searching for the Dane already almost an hour without any results. He had asked the man’s assistants for help, but they were just as clueless as the Icelander was. Officially, Denmark was supposed to have a day off, and one of the assistants had guessed that the nation might have travelled to meet Norway, as that was something he often did whenever he got free time. They haven’t heard anything about the man’s plans and were honestly surprised when Iceland told them that he had called him to come over there. 

When the search didn’t bring any results and all information Iceland could gather was that there had been some heated debate over the new budget, the new ambassador of France had arrived just a while ago and the kitchen staff was gossiping about some man who might be taking toilet paper to home from office’s toilet, Iceland was ready to give up and return to his own land. He had tried to call his family, some of them several times, but only one who had picked up was Finland who claimed he didn’t know anything. Norway, Sweden and Denmark himself, had all refused to pick up the calls, which made Iceland just more pissed off. It was not normal that his calls were left unanswered and he still freshly remembered the problems his family had caused with the Icelandic secret service some years ago. He only hoped they were not up to something wrong again. Last time it had took him years to fix things and it hadn’t helped at all that he had spent most of the year in Norway’s land. 

Iceland was already heading down to the lobby when he passed a man walking alone to another direction. The Icelander didn’t really paid attention to him, even barely noting that he was walking pass somebody. He was fully focusing on his angry muttering and cursing the damn Dane who had decided to disappear and probably was up to no good. The man did notice him and with a shocked expression he stopped and turned around to look after the nation.

“Erik?” he asked and Iceland halted. He hadn’t use that name for years, but he still reacted to it and turned around to look at human.

“Do I know you?” he asked and observed the man. He seemed to be almost in his fifties. The suit he was wearing gave out a gracious expression, though he had a gently smile on his lips and the slightly grey hair made him look like a friendly man who would invite everybody for BBQ at least three times per summer and even help the neighbour to fix their car. 

“It is Carl”, the man said and finally Iceland remembered. The voice was still same he had heard before, though the human had changed a lot during the years and was not the same young man anymore.

“Carl”, Iceland repeated, “from University?”

“Same man”, he replied with a smile, “so… You are one of… them? You still look exactly like back then. Is it really you?”

“You know about us?” Iceland asked with a weird heaviness inside. Carl nodded.

“I am the new French ambassador”, he said, “they told me about it two months ago. I… It was lot to take in, honestly, but I have already met few of you and…” He paused and looked puzzled for a moment before he chuckled, “I guess I had already met few before, thought I didn’t know about it.”

“Sorry”, Iceland muttered. He wondered if he should have escaped already a while ago, but he felt like it was too late now.

“It is okay”, Carl said and sighed, “this explains a lot, doesn’t it? There was always something strange with you and you didn’t come to our wedding. Kind of makes sense, I don’t think any of us would have taken it well when you still look exactly same after all the years.”

“Sorry”, Iceland repeated, feeling awkward when he was faced with a man he had knew before. Carl didn’t seem to be angry, but Iceland believed he had to be at least disappointed of all the lies he had heard during their studies together. He looked confused. 

“I understand”, the man still said, “they explained me a lot about… your kin’s problems and secrecy. I know you had to do what you did.” Iceland nodded and there was a deep, slightly pressing silence between them until Carl spoke up again.

“Would you have time for cup of coffee?” he asked with a familiar smile, “it has been 32 years after all. We have lot to catch up.” 

“Sure”, Iceland said with a nod, “follow me. I know a perfect place.” 

The place Iceland took them was one of his favourites. It wasn’t the most popular place, but that was mostly because of its location in secured location out of the tourist area. The locals favoured the place because of the delicious treats they made, but often they preferred to pick those up and therefore the place was often empty and perfect for talking over coffee. Iceland had been there before too with his family. 

They took their coffees and cakes to the table in the far corner and for a moment just stared at each other, both trying to find something to say and start the conversation with. Iceland was feeling too awkward to say anything, but Carl decided to break the silence after a while.

“So”, he said, “what is your real name?”

“Ísland”, Iceland replied, “but Iceland is okay too. Most of personifications call me Is or Ice.”

“I see”, Carl said with a hint of fascination in his voice, “so you call yourself a personification?”

“Yes, or sometimes just a nation”, Iceland said and frowned slightly, “you just found out your old classmate is not a human and all you want to know is how I identify myself, really?” Carl gave him sheepish smile and nodded.

“I have been thinking about this a lot since I heard it first time”, he admitted, “I wanted to ask everything already when I met France last month, but I felt too shy. It is not easy to speak about things like that with some stranger, but you. You are still our Erik, right?”

“That is right”, Iceland nodded, feeling slightly confused but also relieved when his old classmate accepted him, “I couldn’t tell you everything about me, but I am still the same person. Only with some extra sides.” Iceland was grateful that Norway had made him go through the training in his land after his studies in the university. Without that he would have been more unsure about himself. 

“I guess it is normal to have some secrets”, Carl nodded, “and I am kind of relieved to know that you didn’t miss the wedding… or the funeral because you didn’t care.” The human looked sad when he mentioned the funeral and Iceland also looked away. He had regretted it.

“I sent you gift”, he muttered, “I know it is not same, but it was eight years after graduation. I still look like I am seventeen. It was hard enough to make you think I was actually twenty-three or so, and it would have been impossible to claim to be thirty or more.”

“True”, Carl said, “I heard from Anneke that she got something from a stranger, well, after Tomas died. Was it you?”

“I sent her money”, Iceland muttered, “I know it is hard to be alone and raise three young kids. I asked the Netherlands. The personification of the Netherlands, I mean. I asked him to deliver it and make it look like some kind of state fund so she would feel ease about using it.” Carl nodded and smiled slightly, though he still missed the man who had become his good friend. Iceland knew that Tomas had been even the best man in the wedding.

“I visited the grave later”, he added quietly, “to say goodbye.”

“I am sure he appreciated that”, Carl said and stared at his coffee for a moment, “well, if we go to other topics, your brothers? They are personifications too?”

“Correct”, Iceland said with a nod, “Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. Actually, only Nore is my real brother. My relationships with others are a bit more complicated, but we have been calling us family for a long time already.” 

“Matias is Denmark?” Carl asked, “I was supposed to meet him yesterday, but he cancelled suddenly only half an hour before our meeting.”

“That damn Dane”, Iceland muttered because he started to understand why he hadn’t seen Denmark at all, and then he continued with normal voice, “yeah, and Sigurd is Norway. I think you never really met Finland or Sweden.”

“That explains when he always seemed to be so strongly stereotypical Dane”, Carl noted with thoughtful look on his face, “I thought few times that he was just trying to act like that for fun.”

“No, that is real him”, Iceland said, “he is special.”

“Why you said that they are all your brothers?” Carl asked, “if only one actually is that?”

“I panicked”, Iceland admitted, “we have some plans for what we will tell people if certain questions are asked. In that way we will all say the same lies. When we talked about family, I accidentally said I have four brothers and then I just had to go with it.”

“I see”, Carl muttered, “that is smart actually.”

“Dan was upset about it”, Iceland said, “he and Nore are actually lovers, not brothers. He claimed that I was trying to destroy his life.”

“Really?”

“He likes to be dramatic”, Iceland said and shrugged, “but what about you? How have you been?” Carl smiled when the Icelander tried to change the topic. It was clear he still had lot of questions, but at least for a while he played along.

“Still married”, he said, “and I just got a new job.”

“Oh, right”, Iceland said, “how in earth you ended up as French ambassador? Last time we met you were still an American.”

“It is all thanks to my lovely wife”, Carl said with small smile appearing once again on his face when he spoke about his wife, “I think you remember that I moved to France after graduation? Well, Juli was stubborn about making me learn French so I could work there better, and after some years I applied for the citizenship. We thought about moving to the States instead, but at that time she had got a good career and lot of possibilities, while I was just looking for my place. I didn’t want her to give it up for nothing and I didn’t want to give up her, so I became French.”

“That is a brave choice”, Iceland noted.

“Still easiest one in my life”, Carl said with a smile, “she was thrilled when I switched into politics. She thinks I became a real Frenchman at that moment.”

“Is she still working with law?”

“Yeah, it is her passion”, Carl replied, “she was preparing to take over her father’s law firm, but now that I got promoted, she decided to take few years easier and follow me here. Just for sake of old times.”

“She is here too?” Iceland asked and wondered if he would meet another old classmate too.

“Not yet”, Carl said, “she will arrive next week when her last case is finished. We got a nice little house just a bit out of Copenhagen.”

“Good.” Iceland took a sip of the coffee that was becoming cold alarmy fast, and wondered if he should already start to eat the cake he hadn’t even touch yet. They had both forgot about food in mid of the conversation.

“Can I tell Juli about you, Erik?” Carl asked and frowned, “I mean, Iceland.”

“You can still call me Erik if you wish so”, Iceland said, “I guess it is okay. She already knows the secret, right? Usually they let the families know, though I am not sure if France does so.”

“Yes, they told her about it too after they had checked her background”, Carl replied, “she took it much better than me. I was having a hard time to believe, while she just noted that it makes sense and proceeded to make an appointment to meet France.”

“She has always been rational”, Iceland said with a nod.

“And she will be happy to meet you and get some answers”, Carl said and smirked slightly, “you should get prepared, she will not let you go so easily.”

“I can imagine”, Iceland muttered, “I will prepare a detailed presentation of myself and my many lies.” Carl laughed at the nation’s attempt to joke. 

“Do that”, he said, “and she might be satisfied.”

“She is your wife”, Iceland noted, “can’t you calm her down so I might survive?”

“Sorry, she is the boss”, Carl replied and glanced at the clock, “damn, I will have to go now. We will see another time again?”

“Sure”, Iceland said, “I am living in my own land at the moment, but I will let you know when I am coming over here next time.”

“How many years it will take until that?” Carl asked with hints of joking in his voice.

“Dan demands me to visit at least few times per year”, Iceland said, “so I guess we might meet again in month or so? I think I got a meeting in Aarhus soon, so I might swing this way.”

“Great”, Carl said with a happy smile, “you better to call us and not disappear like last time.”

“Sorry”, Iceland muttered and the human laughed.

“It is okay”, he said, “and you can make it up with answering to all of our numerous questions.”

“Looking forward to it”, Iceland muttered, but Carl seemed to understand that the nation didn’t really mind about that. He drank the rest of his coffee and got up, picking up his small suitcase from another chair.

“Until next time”, he said, “oh, could you eat that cake? I would take it with, but I really have to hurry now.”

“No problem”, Iceland said and moved the plate closer, “see you.” Carl nodded and left. Iceland stayed a bit longer and ate the two pieces of the cake while he thought about the sudden meeting with very old friend. He was being so slow that when he finally got up to leave, it was already dark outside and he felt like he had already missed the dinner time. 

When he arrived to the apartment, he found the Danish personification lounging on the couch and looking like there was nothing wrong going on. Iceland kicked the shoes off his feet and walked to the Dane, leaning over the backrest to give him a bad look so the man would understand how pissed off he was about the Dane ditching him like that.

“Hey, Icey”, Denmark said with a grin when he noticed the Icelander. 

“You are an asshole”, Iceland said. He didn’t bother with greetings.

“I have heard so”, the Dane replied and didn’t seem to be insulted at all, “why this time?”

“You knew about Carl”, Iceland said, “so you lured me here, disappeared and let me to just run on him without telling me he knows the secret now.”

“Yeah, well”, Denmark said with a shrug, “I thought about just making a meeting for you two, but then Nor said that you might want to have a chance to decide yourself if you want to meet him, so I just called you over and let the fate handle the rest.”

“So you really thought that calling me to Copenhagen and then letting me to get pissed off with trying to find you was the best way to let me know that my old classmate is the new French ambassador and knows the secret now?” Iceland asked and Denmark nodded.

“It worked, right?” he said after Iceland had stared at him for a while.

“You are an idiot”, Iceland muttered.

“I have heard that before, too!” Denmark laughed and grinned at the Icelander, “did you two have fun? You aren’t gonna stay out of Copenhagen for ten years again? Damn, it took me long to get you back here last time you said goodbye to humans. I should have thought about this plan a bit longer.”

“Yeah, it was okay and no, I will not do that”, Iceland replied after a moment of hesitation, “but this is not over, Dane, I am angry with you.”

“Okay”, Denmark said and his smile faded little, “I am sorry, Is. I should have told you.” Iceland snorted and nodded shortly before he sat down on the armchair.

“Yeah, you should have done that”, he said, “but whatever. I am flying back home tomorrow so are you going to offer me dinner at least? And where the hell you were all day?”

“Sure, you will get whatever you want for dinner”, Denmark promised and smirked slightly when he saw he had been at least partly forgiven, “and I was in Malmö.” Iceland raised his brows slightly after hearing that.

“Malmö? What you were doing there?” he asked.

“Listening a political debate in Swedish about something I already forgot”, the Dane said with a shrug, “I was trying to find a place where nobody would ever go to look for me and that was the first one I came up with.”

“Well”, Iceland said slowly, “I would have never think about finding you there.”

“See? I knew it would be good place to hide”, Denmark said with a happy smile, “the only problem was that it was pretty boring stuff to listen to, but they gave free coffee and snacks for everybody.”

“Wait”, Iceland said and stopped the Dane before he started to talk about the free snacks more, “did you seriously went to listen a debate about Sví’s politics only because you wanted to make sure I don’t find you and I will instead just randomly meet the new French ambassador I had no idea about?”

“Yeah!” 

“You are unbelievable”, Iceland muttered.

“And that is something I have also heard before”, the Dane said with an amusement in his voice, “can you come up with anything own or are you just copying Nor for some reason?” 

“Shut up”, Iceland said.

“And again…” Denmark started, but Iceland tossed a pillow at him. The Dane laughed and got up from the couch, telling the Icelander that the dinner would be served soon.


End file.
